Surrey looked like pulling a surprise defeat from the jaws of a match drifting to a draw yesterday. After three days and a session of attrition, Middlesex put their foot on the accelerator, and Shaun Udal, true to his promise that he would set aggressive declarations, left Surrey 240 to win off a minimum of 44 overs.

At 55 for five in the 25th over, when Mark Butcher was trapped leg-before on the back foot by Murali Kartik, Middlesex were favourites to win. At the other end Mark Ramprakash, in now familiar pose, leant on his bat handle as another one of his lesser colleagues departed. But there were surprisingly few dramas once Chris Jordan joined Ramprakash and batted out for the draw. It seemed a little odd, though, that Middlesex agreed to the draw with four overs still remaining, stranger things have happened than five tailenders falling over quickly.

Surrey, who Middlesex said were not interested in chasing a target over discussions between the teams at lunch, were in trouble immediately. Jonathan Batty went second ball, edging a short one from Steve Finn to Kartik, who took an excellent catch low to his left at second slip.

Two balls later, Finn pinned Mark Ramprakash with a bouncer. Ramprakash was beaten by Chris Silverwood's first ball awayswinger and only got off the mark in the sixth over with an edge along the ground through the slips.

When Michael Brown was leg-before by Finn to the second ball after tea Surrey were 23 for two in the eleventh over. With Mark Butcher dropping down the order, probably because of his recurring knee problems, there was the definite whiff of Surrey blood in the air.

Stewart Walters looked caught in the headlights against Kartik. He was leg-before in the first innings groping, this time he shouldered arms entirely to the arm and wandered off. Usman Afzaal prodded at the rough outside the left-handers' off stump and was caught at silly point, one of four men round the bat.

Mark Butcher, the last recognised batsman emerged and scratched around for two. If Surrey were to lose Butcher to injury again, their batting resources look increasingly thin, especially after the terse one-sentence statement that announced that James Benning and Scott Newman are available on loan appeared on their website this week.

Middlesex may feel doubly aggrieved at their second draw with Surrey this season, as they only just failed in an excellent chase at the Oval in May, collapsing in a heap to with only two needed for victory.

There had been little hint of the excitement in the morning session as the game meandered on. Andre Nel bowled off three paces from the Nursery End and Middlesex's openers patted him back. It was less tame than trivial.

But as soon as Nick Compton came out reverse sweeping after lunch, the plan was apparent. Compton completed his first championship hundred since Canterbury in September 2006. Owais Shah reached his fifty with the first of three consecutive boundaries off Murtaza Hussain's off breaks, but attempting a fourth he top-edged a sweep to deep backward square.

Udal promoted himself, underlining that there was a declaration imminent. The promotion was unsuccessful and with hindsight he will wish his openers had been more positive and Middlesex could have have set something closer to 300 off 60 overs. But the intent was excellent and Middlesex's spin attack should become a real handful for all the second divison sides as the summer wears on.

Middlesex: First Innings 385 (O A Shah 159, D J Malan 54; A Nel 4 for 59)

Second Innings (overnight 38-0)
B A Godleman c Jordan b Tudor 21
N R D Compton not out 100
O A Shah c sub b Hussain 61
*S D Udal c Butcher b Hussain 2
M Kartik st Batty b Afzaal 4
D J Malan c Walters b Afzaal 30
N J Dexter not out 8
Extras (b 2, lb 5, w 3, nb 10) 20
Total (5 wkts dec, 67.5 overs) 246
Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-170, 3-173, 4-178, 5-233.
Bowling: Nel 11-6-15-0; Jordan 11-5-24-0; King 6-0-34-0; Tudor 11-6-37-1; Afzaal 13.5-0-60-2; Hussain 15-1-69-2.

Surrey: First Innings 392 (M R Ramprakash 136, U Afzaal 58; M Kartik 5 for 65)

Second Innings
†J N Batty c Kartik b Finn 0
M J Brown lbw b Finn 13
M R Ramprakash not out 49
S J Walters lbw b Kartik 3
U Afzaal c Malan b Kartik 1
*M A Butcher lbw b Udal 2
C J Jordan not out 30
Extras (lb 1) 1
Total (5 wkts, 40 overs) 99
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-23, 3-34, 4-40, 5-55.
Bowling: Finn 12-5-29-2; Silverwood 5-1-15-0; Kartik 14-5-26-2; Udal 7-0-24-1; Malan 2-0-4-0.
Umpires: M R Benson and B Dudleston.