The odds were always stacked against Derbyshire. They have never scored more than 350 in the fourth innings to win a championship match and they have not won in Essex since 1937, but Dominic Telo and Rikki Clarke raised their hopes of reaching a target of 372 with a fourth-wicket partnership of 87.

Then Telo, 22, who has struggled for runs since arriving from Cape Town with an ambition to play for England, was picked up at silly point off Danish Kaneria for 69. Clarke was brilliantly caught by James Foster, standing up, off a Ryan ten Doeschate lifter three balls later and Derbyshire appeared doomed.

Earlier, Ravi Bopara , who passed 50 for the seventh time in 11 championship innings, and Ten Doeschate, adding an unbeaten 55 to his first innings 118, ensured that Essex did not squander their first-innings advantage.

They had resumed 192 runs ahead with seven wickets in hand, but Mark Pettini, their captain, was bowled by Charl Langeveldt in the first over of the day and it was just as well that Bopara, who looks far more relaxed playing for Essex than he does for England, remained in such a rich vein of form for his county. He had made 71 off 82 balls with 10 fours when he was caught behind off Graham Wagg, whereupon Ten Doeschate, went in to carry on where he had left off in the first innings.

Foster, who had already joined Bopara in a fifth-wicket partnership of 71, helped to add another 44 before he was caught behind off Jon Clare and Ten Doeschate had just reached his fifty with a six off Clare when he ran out of partners.

The target was always going to ask an awful lot of Derbyshire, given the brittleness of their batting, but Dan Birch and Steve Stubbings gave them a solid start, putting on 57 before James Middlebrook, the Yorkshire-born off-spinner, rather than Kaneria, the Pakistan leg-spinner that they feared most, made the breakthrough.

Birch was caught behind trying to cut and Stubbings was bowled behind his legs shuffling too far across his stumps. Then Kaneria dived full length to his right to catch a leading edge from Wavell Hinds off his own bowling and give Essex a glimpse of victory inside three days until Telo and Clarke showed that Derbyshire were not going down without a fight.

Essex: First Innings 404 (R N ten Doeschate 118, A N Cook 95, A J Tudor 68; J Needham 4 for 81)

Second Innings (overnight 59-3)

R S Bopara c Pipe b Wagg 71
*M L Pettini b Langeveldt 6
†J S Foster c Wagg b Clare 37
R N ten Doeschate not out 55
J D Middlebrook c Clarke b Wagg 9
A J Tudor run out 0
Danish Kaneria c and b Langeveldt 17
M A Chambers c Pipe b Wagg 0

Extras (b 9, lb 9, nb 6) 24

Total (58.4 overs) 238

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-14, 3-34, 4-64, 5-135, 6-179, 7-204, 8-205, 9-237.

Bowling: Langeveldt 14-1-52-4; Wagg 15.4-2-71-4; Needham 12-2-44-0; Clarke 6-1-23-0; Clare 11-3-30-1.

Derbyshire: First Innings 271 (D J Pipe 95 not out, G M Smith 53; R S Bopara 4 for 33)

Second Innings

D J Birch c Foster b Middlebrook 31
S D Stubbings b Middlebrook 30
F D Telo c Pettini b Kaneria 69
W W Hinds c and b Kaneria 2
*R Clarke c Foster b Ten Doeschate 44
J Needham not out 0
G M Smith not out 4

Extras (b 4, lb 4) 8

Total (5 wkts, 49 overs) 188

Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-82, 3-97, 4-184, 5-184.

Bowling: Tudor 8-0-54-0; Chambers 3-0-22-0; Kaneria 20-10-40-2; Middlebrook 12-1-46-2; Bopara 4-0-13-0; Ten Doeschate 2-0-5-1.

Umpires: B Leadbeater and J W Lloyds.

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