As comebacks go, Chris Lewis's return to county cricket yesterday was up there with Björn Borg and Britney Spears after his first bowl at the Oval since 1998 yielded 51 runs in six overs, but a flurry of runs late in the day offered hints that the former England all-rounder may be of value with the bat for Surrey this summer.

The 40-year-old was playing his first county game for eight years and Andrew Strauss, in particular, took a liking to some short bowling, making 45 runs off Lewis on his way to a career-best 163. It was the highest score by any Middlesex batsman in one-day competitions and helped the county to their biggest total against Surrey.

Lewis was not meant to play this early in the season, having signed as a star attraction for the Twenty20 Cup, but Matthew Nicholson, Saqlain Mushtaq and Jimmy Ormond were ruled out because of flu.

Lewis came on in Middlesex's twelfth over and Strauss immediately drove him to leg for four, before flashing another boundary. Three more fours followed in Lewis's second over.

In what would be Lewis's final over, Strauss brought up his century with a cut single. The landmark was reached in 90 balls and Strauss needed only 27 more to get to 150, three times smiting Usman Afzaal's part-time spin for six.

When Strauss went, Owais Shah made 55 off 56 balls to guide Middlesex past 300. Although Surrey started brightly, James Benning and Scott Newman putting on 89 in 14 overs, no batsman hung around. Mark Ramprakash was one of three wickets for Danny Evans and when Gareth Berg, making his debut, dismissed Mark Butcher for 46 and Chris Schofield for a duck, the chase was over. Lewis's sprightly 33 off 30 balls was simply a diversion.

Middlesex

E C Joyce c and b Schofield 42

*E T Smith b Dernbach 4

A J Strauss b Jordan 163

O A Shah not out 55

E J G Morgan lbw b Collins 8

B J M Scott (wk) b Dernbach 7

G K Berg b Jordan 1

T J Murtagh not out 14

Extras (b 4, lb 4, w 13) 21

Total (6 wkts, 50 overs) 315

S D Udal, D Evans and S T Finn did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-155, 3-253, 4-263, 5-276, 6-277.

Bowling: Collins 10-1-32-1; Dernbach 10-0-63-2; Jordan 10-0-67-2; Lewis 6-0-51-0; Schofield 10-0-44-1; Afzaal 1-0-20-0; Benning 3-0-30-0.

Surrey

S A Newman lbw b Udal 65

J G E Benning b Evans 47

M R Ramprakash c Udal b Evans 0

*M A Butcher c Murtagh b Berg 46

U Afzaal st Scott b Murtagh 6

J N Batty (wk) b Finn 21

C P Schofield b Berg 0

C J Jordan c Scott b Evans 0

C C Lewis c Morgan b Berg 33

J W Dernbach b Berg 9

P T Collins not out 1

Extras (b 1, lb 10, w 9) 20

Total (43 overs) 248

Fall of wickets: 1-89, 2-89, 3-154, 4-173, 5-186, 6-186, 7-187, 8-228, 9-246.

Bowling: Murtagh 8-0-39-1; Finn 8-0-50-1; Evans 10-1-36-3; Udal 8-0-46-1; Shah 2-0-16-0; Berg 7-0-50-4.

Umpires: I J Gould and P J Hartley.