Maddy was dropped twice by Essex's profligate fielders on Saturday

Warwickshire's six-wicket win on the final day against Essex at Chelmsford guaranteed their progress back to Division One of the Championship.

Essex were going well with the bat as they stretched an overnight 125-1 to 247-1, Ravi Bopara (133) and John Maunders (105) hitting centuries.

But they then collapsed dreadfully to the spin of veteran Ian Salisbury (6-100) and were all out for 316.

Warwickshire had 45 overs left to get 144 and they were not unduly troubled.

Darren Maddy (63) and Tony Frost (38 not out) were the main contributors but the real hero of the day was Salisbury.

In his first season at the club, the 38-year-old leg-spinner has taken 38 wickets in the Championship - more than any other Warwickshire player.

Surrey, who opted to release Salisbury last October, may regret that decision as they will be playing cricket in Division Two next season having failed to record a single win in the top tier this term.

So too will Essex. Despite having recorded five wins in the Championship, their batting frailty has often been exposed and they have lost six times, more than any other team.

606: DEBATE As promotion looks so very close, we need to start planning for next year. I'm not sure we're going to be ready for Division One. Who should we bring in? bilsim

It was another weak batting performance by Essex on Saturday.

Salisbury embarked upon his course of destruction by ending the 241-run stand between Ravi Bopara and John Maunders.

Bopara was first to go when he was caught behind by Tim Ambrose, and Maunders quickly followed him back to the pavilion when sweeping the leg-spinner to Jim Troughton.

The rest of the innings unravelled so dramatically that Essex, having at one point seen the draw as a near certainty, suddenly knew they were racing certainties for defeat.

However, Warwickshire did not have things all their own way in reaching the winning post.

Chris Wright nipped out Navdeep Poonia and Troughton before the 50 was raised, while Jonathan Trott became an lbw victim of off-spinner James Middlebrook with the score on 61.

But Essex's catching in Warwickshire's first innings was bad, and the disease had spread.

Maddy was missed twice. On 10, Tony Palladino failed to accept a chance at deep fine leg and five runs later he was let off by Middlebrook who spilled a return catch.

Fittingly, Tony Frost - who had made 242 not out in the first innings - was there at the end when Tim Ambrose scored the winning runs in the 39th over.

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