Essex were closing in on victory at the close of play on day three of their match against Gloucestershire.

Having been set 181 to win at Chelmsford they finished on 150-2 after a brilliant unbroken stand of 143 from Neil Dexter (60) and Ravi Bopara (83).

Gloucestershire's tail wagged to at least set a decent target, Kadeer Ali (43) and Steve Snell (53) top scoring, with Danish Kaneria taking 5-53.

Essex lost Jason Gallian and Varun Chopra early on but are set to win.

Gloucs resumed their innings on 70-6 after Kaneira's crucial late spell on Wednesday and they desperately needed to get a partnership going to reach a respectable total.

Ali and Snell certainly battled hard, toiling throughout the morning session but adding only 51 in 34 overs, though both were dropped in the process.

The arrival of the new ball eventually did for them, with both Snell and Ali - whose innings lasted 200 balls - caught by Dexter off David Masters (3-37).

Jon Lewis and Mark Hardinges both succumbed to Kaneira as he bagged another five-wicket haul and Essex were left needing 181 to win.

Gloucestershire's hopes rose when Gallian was cleaned up by Steve Kirby and Chopra was run out and suddenly Essex were 7-2.

But Bopara was in stunning form as he plundered 11 fours and a six in tandem with the more circumspect Dexter, who completed his first fifty for the county since joining on loan from Kent nearly two months ago.