Aside from their fielding, Middlesex have the components to be faring much better in the championship. Five out of the last six London derbies have ended in draws and if the hosts are to hold their own against a resurgent Surrey side they will need to put runs on the board.

Even without Andrew Strauss and Eoin Morgan, Middlesex will have three batsmen on show who, thus far, have been consistent run-makers in this year's County Championship - Dawid Malan, Gareth Berg and new skipper Neil Dexter. If only Owais Shah could show more ruthlessness, it would make up for the problems the North Londoners have at the start of the innings.

But there's no two ways about it, the bowling attack is not as potent as it is when Steve Finn and Iain O'Brien are around. Even Tim Murtagh, who, until now, has been so reliable, is averaging 45.36 with the ball in this year's championship.

Usman Afzaal has 98 first-class career wickets. Rory Hamilton-Brown will start the match on 991 f-c runs. Mark Ramprakash has now made 59 f-c hundreds for Surrey, so wants one more for his 60th. Of the Middlesex line-up, Sam Robson goes into this contest with 954 f-c runs to his name.

A leg injury means that Andre Nel is forced to sit out the London derby, but Jade Dernbach has been passed fit after missing over a month of first team action due to a side strain. Tim Linley, who is also coming back from a layoff, has been added to the squad, but given the damage Stuart Meaker and Chris Tremlett caused in Northants' second innings the other day it's hard to see who Surrey might leave out for Linners.

The weather forecast for Saturday could do with looking a bit better, but it seems as though we're in for four full days of action. Middlesex are at a low ebb at the moment, while Surrey have won three out of their last five in the champo. Having said all that, the Oval outfit haven't won a four-dayer at Lord's since 1997 and Andre Nel, the heartbeat of the Surrey team right now, misses out through injury. Something tells me Middlesex will be up for this contest, but I still favour a win for the visitors.

S Robson, S Newman, O Shah, D Malan, N Dexter (capt), G Berg, J Davey, J Simpson (wk), T Smith, T Roland-Jones and T Murtagh.

Nigel Llong and Steve O'Shaughnessy.

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