IT WOULD be a great shame if, at the end of the season, Jamie Dalrymple was lost to cricket, as might be the case if he decides to give up being a fringe player at Middlesex and instead use his brain to make a fortune in the City. Not for the first time, the Kenyan-born, Oxford-educated Dalrymple dug Middlesex out of a hole of their own making. Dalrymple, 24, is a useful man to come in at No 6 — he made 244 against Surrey last season at the Oval, passing Denis Compton’s record of 235 in matches between these teams.

Then, like yesterday, he was playing only because Andrew Strauss was with England and the arrival of Scott Styris has meant that this was only his second championship match. Coming in at 136 for four yesterday, Dalrymple prospered where all others had struggled.

In typically pugnacious fashion — part phlegmatic young officer on the burning deck, part millionaire with caution to the wind — he moved serenely to fifty off 88 balls with nine fours. He cover-drove the seam bowlers who had so examined the technique of his top-order colleagues and worked or swept Harbhajan Singh.

Paul Weekes scratched around usefully with him for a partnership of 110 in 30 overs, which rescued Middlesex from a perilous position after they had elected to bat. That decision came as something of a surprise, given that Middlesex said that they had specifically prepared a greener top that would provide more help and carry for the seam bowlers.

Weekes played on trying to cut a ball too close to him from Jimmy Ormond. Seven overs later, Dalrymple, having got bogged down, top-edged a slog-sweep off Harbhajan and Scott Newman took a good catch running back to mid-wicket. But Surrey were denied first-day bragging rights as Irfan Pathan and Ben Scott took Middlesex to the close.

Middlesex had been fortunate to crawl to 88 for no wicket at lunch, their first opening stand of fifty this season. Ben Hutton was dropped at leg gully and he and Ed Smith played and missed countless times. The luck did not hold. Martin Bicknell got one to come back up the slope from the Pavilion End and Hutton was bowled offering no shot.

Owais Shah was not able to lay a bat on anything until he prodded at one from Bicknell. Middlesex even survived a couple of leg-before shouts, but Ed Joyce was unlucky, inside-edging on to his pads, only for John Steele, the umpire, to give him out.

There was no hint of the needle that ruptured the two matches between these teams last season. Middlesex accused Surrey of ball-tampering at Lord’s last season, something the ECB dismissed later for lack of evidence, but which has gained significance in the light of Surrey’s eight-point penalty for being found guilty of the offence twice against Nottinghamshire. In the return fixture there were several toe-to-toe con frontations, notably between Jonathan Batty and David Nash, who was disciplined by the ECB.

Strangely, Surrey bowled Dominic Thornely, their new Australian recruit, before tea instead of Bicknell or Tim Murtagh. Thornely may be described as a New South Wales all-rounder, but he is more of a batsman and the pressure on Middlesex faded.

SCOREBOARD FROM LORD’S

MIDDLESEX: First Innings

E T Smith b Murtagh 60
*B L Hutton b Bicknell 44
O A Shah c Batty b Bicknell 0
E C Joyce lbw b Ormond 24
S B Styris lbw b Ormond 8
J W M Dalrymple c Newman b Harbhajan 77
P N Weekes b Ormond 39
I K Pathan not out 33
B J M Scott not out 13
Extras (lb 14, w 1, nb 6) 21
Total (7 wkts, 104 overs) 319

C J C Wright and A Richardson to bat.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-100, 2-104, 3-118, 4-136, 5-148, 6-258, 7-282.
BOWLING: Bicknell 24-5-85-2; Ormond 24-5-63-3; Thornely 12-3-36-0; Murtagh 20-5-64-1; Harbhajan 24-8-57-1.

SURREY: S A Newman, R S Clinton, *M R Ramprakash, G P Thorpe, D J Thornely, A D Brown, J N Batty, M P Bicknell, T J Murtagh, Harbhajan Singh, J Ormond.

Bonus points: Middlesex 3 Surrey 2
Umpires: G I Burgess and J F Steele.