County Championship: Middlesex take upper hand after Surrey batting collapse

Mark Stoneman and Rory Burns shared an opening stand of 135 before Surrey slumped

Middlesex fought back to claim the upper hand on the first day against Surrey as they lost six wickets for just seven runs in a batting collapse.

Surrey slumped from 135-0 to 142-6 in the space of just eight overs in the afternoon after Rory Burns (64) and Mark Stoneman (63) made half-centuries.

Martin Andersson (3-17) dismissed England pair Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes for ducks amid the flurry of wickets.

Rain ended the day's play shortly before tea with Surrey on 146-6.

Middlesex won the toss and elected to bowl first in front of a crowd of about 3,500 socially-distanced spectators as limited crowds continued to return to county cricket.

Surrey openers Burns and Stoneman looked untroubled as they reached half-centuries in close succession, but Stoneman was the first to depart when John Simpson clung on to an inside edge off Blake Cullen.

England opener Burns then fell in the next over, leg before to Ethan Bamber before Andersson removed both Pope and Foakes in the space of five balls.

Pope was pinned on the front pad to a ball that nipped back and then Foakes got a thin outside edge to give Simpson another catch behind the stumps.

Before rain washed out the last 40 overs of the day, there was still time for Jamie Smith to be caught at second slip without scoring off Tom Helm and then Andersson to trap Jordan Clark for just one.

Surrey opener Mark Stoneman told BBC Radio London:

"It's one of those where you're doing really well at 135-0 and while you never look too far ahead, you've got plans of trying to make a pretty big score first time up.

"But then they managed to get on a bit of a roll and I think it's that kind of a surface, where if bowlers get into a rhythm, they can pick up wickets in bunches.

"Thankfully it happened at 135 and not 35. But the Middlesex bowlers still had to work hard for those wickets.

"We're still hopeful we can come back tomorrow and build some more partnerships and try and get as many as we can."