LONDON, Aug 20: Essex captain Ronnie Irani’s unbeaten 88 guided his team to memorable five-wicket victory over Derbyshire in the English county cricket championship on Friday, lifting them to second in Division Two.

Derby, without a home win in Championship since 2002, resumed on 194-8 and added 22 to set Essex 337.

Teenage off-spinner Jake Needham was first Derbyshire wicket of day to fall, giving Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria his second five-wicket haul of the match.

Flower and Irani then shared a partnership of 177 to secure a stunning victory with 18 balls remaining, leaving Derbyshire firmly rooted to foot of table without a win.

Scores and results on Friday:

County Championship:

Division One:

At The Oval: Surrey (12 points) drew with Gloucestershire (11 points).

GLOUCESTERSHIRE 350 (S.J. Adshead 148 no, A.P.R. Gidman 84) and 294-6 (R.R. Sarwan 99, Kadeer Ali 66); SURREY 463 (M.R. Ramprakash 192, T.R. Murtagh 66, J.N. Batty 56).

Division Two:

At Worcester: Worcestershire (22 points) beat Somerset (4 points) by an innings and 56 runs.

SOMERSET 318 (C. Gazzard 74, A. Suppiah 72) and 322 (M. Wood 72; G.J. Batty 4-121, R.W. Price 4-67); WORCESTERSHIRE 696-8 declared (B.F. Smith 172, Z. de Bruyn 161, S. Davies 148, S.D. Peters 88).

At Derby: Essex (19 points) beat Derbyshire (6 points) by five wickets.

DERBYSHIRE 426 (L. Sutton 88, S.D. Stubbings 64, M. Sheikh 55, Hassan Adnan 52; Danish Kaneria 6-111) and 216 (J. Moss 74; Danish Kaneria 5-65); ESSEX 306 (R.C. Irani 99, G.W. Flower 61, D. Gough 51; G. Welch 5-68) and 337-5 (A. Flower 104, R.C. Irani 88 not out, W.I. Jefferson 83).

At Old Trafford: Lancashire (11 points) drew with Yorkshire (11 points).

YORKSHIRE 417 (C. White 110 not out, M. Wood 86) and 323-6 declared (C. White 66 not out, A. McGrath 57, M. Wood 54); LANCASHIRE 537 (A. Symonds 146, M. Chilton 130, I. Sutcliffe 93, W.K. Hegg 68, D.G. Cork 52; G. Kruis 5-102, T.T. Bresnan 4-111).—Agencies