Surrey 190 and 135 for 0 (Burns 61*, Stoneman 74*) lead Middlesex 160 (Simpson 68, Clark 4-41, Roach 4-61) by 165 runs
Kemar Roach will sign off from Surrey duty on Sunday after a five-game stint as an overseas player and his high-class spell with the new ball meant that he may yet do so as their London derby match-winner. Roach's opening burst under dark clouds reduced Middlesex to 27 for 4 before John Simpson led a revival of sorts, but a second 135-run opening stand in a row between Rory Burns and Mark Stoneman set up Surrey's fourth-day charge for an overdue second win of the season.
Roach saw enough in the 19 balls that Surrey faced in the first 15 minutes of play to know that there was plenty of movement on offer under floodlights and with favourable overhead conditions, and was rewarded for his full length and probing line by dismissing three of Middlesex's top four: the ball nipped late off the seam to take Jack Davies and Sam Robson's outside edges in the space of four balls, before Peter Handscomb, chronically out of form and now averaging 7.50 for the season, pushed optimistically forwards at one which crashed into his off stump.
With Reece Topley finding enough movement to trap Nick Gubbins lbw, Middlesex were four down inside 10 overs and in serious danger of a humiliating total. Simpson's counter-attacking innings, with support from Martin Andersson and Blake Cullen, dragged them towards parity, with several sweetly-timed drives and swivel-pulls hinting at an overdue return to form, but Jordan Clark - who took two of his four wickets with full tosses - chipped away, Rikki Clarke and Ollie Pope took excellent catches in the cordon, and Roach pegged back Cullen's off stump with a snorter.
Surrey's first-innings lead of 30 was hardly commanding but the Stoneman-Burns partnership was a reminder of both players' international calibre. Their attacking intent meant that Middlesex lacked any semblance of control - the first maiden was in the 30th over - and Stoneman looked dominant, pulling and clipping off his hip with disdainful power and caressing drives down the ground.
Stoneman's Championship form has been patchy since he won the last of his England caps in 2018, leading many to wonder if he might follow Scott Borthwick back up to Durham when his contract expires at the end of this summer but he looked at home while racing to a 63-ball history. Stoneman told the Evening Standard last week about his son Leo's fight with a rare heart condition, Tetralogy of Fallot, which has twice required surgery since his birth in October 2018; mercifully, things have improved of late, and it is no coincidence that his returns with the bat have improved simultaneously.
Middlesex will reflect that they have had the worse of the conditions: they were visibly frustrated at the umpires' needless insistence that play should pause for drizzle after a prolonged tea break, and the ball barely moved off the straight in the final session. But there are no excuses for their misfiring batting line-up, who have managed four totals in excess of 210 in 12 opportunities this season, and after Leicestershire escaped with a draw at the Ageas Bowl, defeat here would leave them rock bottom of Group Two.
Burns - like Roach, Pope and Ben Foakes - is playing his last Championship game for the foreseeable future with England duty imminent, and knows that if his side stand a chance of qualifying for Division One, they will need to press on in the morning and beat the showers expected to arrive in the late afternoon. After a scratchy 64 in the first innings, he looked in rare touch on Saturday, compiling his seventh half-century of the summer and sixth in as many innings, primarily in cuts and pulls.
Roach will travel to St Lucia at the start of next week to prepare for West Indies' Test series against South Africa, with Sean Abbott, the Australian allrounder, already in south London and due to replace him against Gloucestershire. After combined figures of 3 for 225 in his first two appearances of the summer, Roach has been on a roll ever since, blending control with hostility and celebrating his wickets here with roars, double fist-pumps and beaming smiles. If his schedule allows, he would be welcomed back here with open arms.
Roach had said after his eight-wicket haul against Hampshire three weeks ago that the Championship was "the closest thing there is to Test cricket" and despite the sea of empty teal-and-white seats in the ground, the evening session had the atmosphere of a marquee event as the clouds finally gave way to a golden, hazy glow.
"Please, drink responsibly," Mark Butcher smirked on Sky's commentary as one fan was egged on to down her pint, while every Middlesex misfield drew an "Olé!" from the lubricated Saturday crowd; a game of gully-rules cricket broke out behind the JM Finn Stand towards the end of the tea break, and two supporters bonded over their mutual love of the San Diego Padres. Only the most officious of stewards would not welcome the comforting sense of normalcy that has been so sorely missed by the county game.
