Ravi Patel will out his England call-up to the back of his mind as he focuses on helping rescue Middlesex's One Day Cup campaign.

Spin king Patel was earlier this week called into the England Lions squad for their triangular tournament against New Zealand A and Sri Lanka A next month.

He will hook up with the Lions next week, but before that has the small matter of today's One-Day Cup clash against rivals Surrey, starting at 10.30am.

Middlesex have lost their opening two games in the competition, to Glamorgan and Warwickshire, and desperately need a win against Surrey to avoid it going the same way as their doomed Twenty20 campaign.

Patel said: “I am really excited about my England call-up as it came out of the blue. There were whispers about it as I had been doing pretty well in the Twenty20, but no direct calls.

“It is every cricketer's dream to play for their country, and it's been an ambition of mine since I was a kid, but there is a lot of hard work to be done with Middlesex first.

“It's always a big game against our local rivals, and they beat us last week in the Twenty20, so it's a chance to gain some revenge and get our One-Day campaign back on track.

“There is a massive determination not to let it slip away, we want to turn it around. We have been in good positions, but just need to get over the line when the pressure is on.”

Former Harrow St Mary's CC colt Patel, who signed a new three year deal with Middlesex last year, admits he has a lot to be thankful to the county for following his international recognition.

He added: “People like Toby Radford and Graeme West got me in the right mentality to be a professional cricketer and showed me what it takes, as Middlesex is a strong county which is hard to break into.

“The there are guys like Richard Johnson, Angus Fraser and Richard Scott, who have always shown faith in me, so I hope I can repay them some of that.”