Ryan ten Doeschate, the Netherlands all-rounder, stole the show from Alastair Cook, the England opening batsman who is making his third and probably last championship appearance of the season, with an exuberant century that has put Essex in a strong position on a pitch that is already beginning to turn.

Cook fell five runs short of what would have been his first century in 19 first-class innings going back to the final Test in Sri Lanka just before Christmas, but he batted for nearly three hours and facing 143 balls, 13 of which he dispatched to the boundary.

As ever, there was nothing spectacular about Cook's strokeplay with most of his runs coming backward of point or behind square on the leg side until he launched into a slog-sweep off Jake Needham, the off spinner, and was superbly caught by Jon Clare at short mid-wicket.

It had been a decent workout because Charl Langeveldt, the former South Africa seam bowler, bowled well enough with the new ball to have Jason Gallian caught at first slip and Neil Dexter caught behind. Clare surprised Ravi Bopara with a lifter that flew off the shoulder of his bat to third slip, where Needham held a brilliant catch high to his right.

There was turn, too, for Needham, who had Mark Pettini leg-before and James Foster caught at leg slip when both were threatening more, but he could not contain Ten Doeschate. He swept Needham for six and hit 15 fours on the way to his thirteenth first-class century.

James Middlebrook became Needham's fourth victim when he was caught at slip, but Ten Doeschate got all the support he wanted from Alex Tudor, who joined him in an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 126 in 31 overs and reached his fifty by driving Wavell Hinds over extra cover for six.

Essex: First Innings

J E R Gallian c Stubbings b Langeveldt 2

A N Cook c Clare b Needham 95

N J Dexter c Pipe b Langeveldt 0

R S Bopara c Needham b Clare 7

*M L Pettini lbw b Needham 40

J S Foster c Birch b Needham 32

R N ten Doeschate not out 118

J D Middlebrook c Clarke b Needham 7

A J Tudor not out 53

Extras (b 4, lb 4, w 1, nb 2) 11

Total (7 wkts, 99 overs) 365

M A Chambers and Danish Kaneria to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-10, 3-42, 4-123, 5-158, 6-189, 7-239.

Bowling: Langeveldt 22-6-51-2; Wagg 15-2-68-0; Clarke 10-0-47-0; Clare 5-0-42-1; Hinds 18-4-54-0; Needham 25-1-81-4; Smith 4-0-14-0.

Derbyshire: S D Stubbings, D J Birch, W W Hinds, *R Clarke, F D Telo, G M Smith, D J Pipe, G G Wagg, J L Clare, J Needham, C K Langeveldt.

Umpires: B Leadbeater and J W Lloyds.