A stand of record-breaking proportions between Chris Rogers and Eoin Morgan helped Middlesex to 417 for five on the first day of their LV= County Championship Division One match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
Rogers made 180, having faced 220 deliveries and struck 26 fours, while Morgan reached his highest championship score in making 174 not out having hit 27 fours and two sixes.
The two left-handers added 272 together, in 54.3 overs, which was a county record against Nottinghamshire.
Andre Adams, Peter Siddle and Harry Gurney were the wicket-takers on a day of hard toil for the home attack.
Rogers overcame a slightly nervy start, nicking his fellow Australian Siddle between slips and gully in the opening over of the day and then looked as if he would have been fortunate to survive an lbw shout, had Siddle not overstepped.
From that point onwards Rogers was superb, driving imperiously down the ground, with great regularity, as Nottinghamshire captain Chris Read rotated his seamers.
Playing the 300th first-class match of his career, Read's decision to insert the opposition after winning the toss was entirely understandable with heavy cloud cover overhead but he would come to regret it by stumps.
Dawid Malan kept Rogers company for 57 minutes before having his off-stump clipped by Adams and then Neil Dexter went without scoring, edging Gurney to Riki Wessels at first slip.
The fielder, who had badly bruised his hand taking a catch in Twenty20 Blast action on Friday, needed two attempts to grasp the offering then immediately ran off for more treatment.
Wessels soon to returned the field but was guilty of allowing a waist-high nick from Morgan, on 20, to go down off Gurney.
From then on, chances were few and far between as the duo passed landmark after landmark, although Rogers' hundred, which came from 131 balls, was from a rare false shot as his inside edge found its way to the fine-leg fence.
Morgan's strokeplay lost nothing in comparison with his partner and he twice freed his arms to lift Samit Patel down the ground and over the ropes for maximums and move into the 90s.
On a flat, unresponsive strip, being used for the first time this season, the 200 partnership was brought up at exactly five runs per over and then two landmarks were achieved within three balls of each other. Rogers reached his 150 just before Morgan brought up a second consecutive hundred for Middlesex, this time from 137 balls, with 15 fours and two sixes.
Late in the day, either side of the second new ball, Nottinghamshire were able to grasp some semblance of control as they broke the stand and gained two further wickets. A tiring Rogers, dropped in the deep on 170 by Alex Hales, was not so lucky as he eventually picked out James Taylor on the cover fence off Adams.
Siddle's perseverance paid off when he snared Joe Denly, caught at second slip, and then bowled John Simpson in his final burst of the day.
Before the start of play Nottinghamshire presented county caps to Luke Fletcher, Gurney and Wessels.
Our newly capped players with captain Chris Read. Congratulations @gurneyhf, @RikiWessels& @fletcherlukepic.twitter.com/RqnPlN8812
— Nottinghamshire CCC (@TrentBridge) June 14, 2014