County Championship: Bowlers dominate between Middlesex and Surrey

Surrey batsman Ollie Pope was out for 22 following his brilliant 245 against Leicestershire

Middlesex's seamers starred as Surrey collapsed on the opening day of their County Championship derby.

Surrey stumbled to 154 all out after being asked to bat under sunny skies at Lord's, with Tim Murtagh claiming 4-28.

England trio Rory Burns, Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes all fell cheaply as Mark Stoneman top scored with 44.

Left-armer Reece Topley took three wickets to leave Middlesex 16-3, before Sam Robson and Robbie White steered them to 114-3 at stumps, 40 behind.

Robson (46 not out) and White's (52 not out) unbroken stand of 98 could have a big say in the outcome of the match if it does end up being a low-scoring contest.

Surrey's highest partnership on the other hand was just 35 between Stoneman and Jamie Smith.

Pope, off the back of his wonderful innings of 245 against Leicestershire, looked in fine touch again, stroking some classy boundaries in moving to 22.

But the 23-year-old then drove loosely at a delivery from Toby Roland-Jones (3-41) and was caught at slip.

Wickets continued to tumble after Pope went, including a frantic spell in which Surrey went from 107-4 to 107-7 in the space of two overs.

They just sneaked past 150 thanks to some late boundaries from Rikki Clarke (28) but the veteran all-rounder was last man to go, run out by a direct hit from Nick Gubbins.

Gubbins was then one of the three early victims for England paceman Topley, along with Max Holden and new captain Peter Handscomb without scoring.

Under sunny skies in the capital, White and opener Robson then frustrated Surrey for more than two hours to put Middlesex well on top.

Middlesex seamer Tim Murtagh:

"It was always a 'bowl first' wicket but it wasn't cut and dried, so we're happy it worked out the way it did. The whole seam attack did a great job and it was good see Luke Hollman take a wicket on his debut.

"Those two guys at the end played really well because Surrey came hard at us, taking those three wickets early and it could have been quite messy later on.

"But they dug in really well. The ball's a bit softer now. We can look to get past them and get a good first innings lead."

Surrey batsman Mark Stoneman:

"It's the kind of surface where if bowlers are putting it in the right area and challenging your defence, it's going to be tough work.

"It would have been nice if we could have extended one of the partnerships to make it a bit easier for ourselves and we got bowled out for probably 60 or 70 less than was warranted on that pitch. I reckon 220 would have been a good effort first up, having been put in.

"Middlesex have probably edged the day, but if we can put things right first thing in the morning, we can certainly get ourselves a long way back into the game and then make amends second time around with the bat."