LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, The Oval:
Surrey 490 and 207-3 dec, Middlesex 324 and 189-3 Match drawn
Surrey 10 pts, Middlesex 8 pts
Match scorecard

England Test captain Andrew Strauss took his match aggregate to 153

Andrew Strauss confirmed his timely return to form by making his second half-century of the match at The Oval before Middlesex called it a draw.

Surrey set Middlesex a target of 374 in 85 overs after Mark Ramprakash added an unbeaten 103 to his first innings 223.

Strauss and opening partner Scott Newman (43) compiled a stand of 103.

England skipper Strauss went on to make a careful 61 before falling to Jade Dernbach, but Owais Shah (40 not out) guided Middlesex to safety on 189-3.

For Strauss, this match has given him vital time at the crease in his last Championship appearance before the start of England's two-Test series against Bangladesh, which begins next Thursday.

Although he generally batted with assurance during a three-hour, 156-ball stay, Strauss also needed some good fortune as he led Middlesex to safety.

Early on he was beaten by a beauty from Dernbach and, on 18, he edged the same bowler through a vacant third slip.

Earlier, Ramprakash converted his overnight 86 into an unbeaten century, the 111th of his first class career, becoming in the process the first player to score two hundreds in a Championship match on seven occasions - three times for Surrey and four times for his former county Middlesex.

But it was the first time he had scored a century and a double-century in the same match.

Only Ricky Ponting and Zaheer Abbas, who have hit two hundreds in a first-class match on eight occasions, now better the seven achieved by Wally Hammond and Ramprakash.

Ramprakash's first-class record against Middlesex, the county he left in controversial fashion in 2000, now stands at 1384 runs from 15 innings, at an average of 125.

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