THERE are still some old buffers who sneer at Twenty20 but Lord’s was not the poorer for the absence of their Thermos flasks yesterday at the second Twenty20 game to be held at headquarters. A capacity crowd of close to 28,000 bathed in strokemaking to match the glorious sunshine.

They were treated to a fantastic contest until Middlesex collapsed in the last five overs to let Surrey make it 15 wins from 16 matches in this format.

Only the nagging seam bowling of Tim Murtagh — who finished with six for 24 from his four overs — and Surrey’s better catching separated the sides. Owais Shah dominated the Middlesex innings, as he had at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday. He followed his 72 in 30 balls with 78 off 44 balls, improving his own Middlsex record, to make overhauling Surrey’s 200 look ridiculously easy. One shot, a sweep off Nayan Doshi, ended in the top tier of the Tavern Stand. When he bats like this, you feel he should have been with England at the Riverside.

But the game was turned on its head in the fifteenth over when Shah hit a full toss from Murtagh to long-on where Alistair Brown took a catch by his feet. Jamie Dalrymple was bowled two balls later and from 146 for one after 14 overs Middlesex had begun the slide to 177 all out after 19.3 overs.

Murtagh had cut off Ed Smith in full flow at the top of the innings. Smith had 33 of the first 39 of Middlesex’s reply but lost his off stump attempting another cover drive. Dominic Thornely followed his unbeaten 67 off 42 balls with three wickets to help to strangle Middlesex, who kept skying their heaves.

As last season, when Lord’s drew the largest crowd for a county match since 1953, only the pavilion was under-populated, casting the Surrey, Middlesex and MCC members in rather a poor light. There was more of a hubbub outside than for a Test match with everyone arriving together. The gridlocked black cabs gradually decanted their cargo, who were soon well-oiled and the stands were full by the tenth over of Surrey’s innings.

Having chosen to bat, Surrey motored along without ever losing momentum and reached 200 off the last ball. Two dropped catches in the deep helped them to get there with Brown and Thornely both dropped on 32. Brown, put down at long-on by Paul Weekes and Thornely by Smith at long-off. Adam Hollioake, Surrey’s former master, says longer forms of the game are about pumping yourself up whereas Twenty20 is about remaining calm. Yesterday, in the heat and in front of a big crowd, Middlesex pressed the panic button.

SHOW-STOPPER: Ed Smith, at long-off, tipping a drive by Thornely over the bar for six.

SHOW-DOWNER: The Middlesex collapse — losing nine wickets for 29 runs in 30 balls — which robbed the game of a nail-biting finish.

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SCOREBOARD

SURREY

J G E Benning c Weekes b Pathan 8
*A D Brown b Weekes 64
S A Newman b Styris 16
D J Thornely not out 67
R Clarke not out 27
Extras (b 4, lb 3, w 9, nb 2)18
Total (3 wkts, 20 overs)200
J N Batty, I D K Salisbury, T J Murtagh, Harbhajan Singh, M Akram and N D Doshi did not bat.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-18, 2-49, 3-125.

BOWLING: Pathan 4-0-31-1; Betts 4-0-45-0; Styris 4-0-27-1; Hutton 2-0-25-0; Peploe 2-0-24-0; Weekes 4-0-41-1.

MIDDLESEX

O A Shah c Brown b Murtagh 78
E T Smith b Murtagh 33
S B Styris c Thornely b Doshi 40
J W M Dalrymple b Murtagh 0
E C Joyce b Murtagh 7
*B L Hutton c Brown b Thornely 5
I K Pathan c Akram b Thornely 0
B J M Scott c Harbhajan b Murtagh 1
P N Weekes c and b Murtagh 0
C T Peploe not out 3
M M Betts st Batty b Thornely 4
Extras (lb 2, w 2, nb 2) 6
Total (19.3 overs) 177

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-39, 2-148, 3-149, 4-160, 5-168, 6-169, 7-170, 8-170, 9-171.

BOWLING: Akram 4-0-39-0; Murtagh 4-0-24-6; Clarke 1-0-17-0; Harbhajan 4-0-29-0; Thornely 2.3-0-22-3; Doshi 3-0-34-1; Salisbury 1-0-10-0.

Umpires: N A Mallender and R Palmer.

IN FIGURES

It has been a rollicking start to the third year of the competition, with three competition records, packed houses and batsmen holding sway.

• Northamptonshire’s total of 224 for five against Gloucestershire beat the previous highest by three runs
• The nine matches on Wednesday produced 291 fours and 67 sixes (compared to 213 and 57 in last season’s opening round), a four every seven balls, a six every 30 — and a wicket every 17
• Matthew Hoggard acquired the unwanted tag of the most expensive bowling spell, his four overs for Yorkshire costing 65 runs against Lancashire#
• Tim Murtagh improved the competition’s best bowling figures with six for 24 for Surrey at Lord’s last night, overhauling the five for 11 taken by Mushtaq Ahmed when Sussex routed Essex on Wednesday
• Highest score: 94 (35 balls) Matthew Wood (Somerset)
• Most sixes: 9 Owais Shah (Middlesex), Graeme Hick (Worcestershire)