Ronnie Irani hit a blistering century as Essex beat table-topping Derbyshire by six wickets.

Irani, whose form with both bat and ball has been out of the top drawer this season, hit 101 off 76 balls with 12 fours and three sixes.

Even more remarkably, nobody else had managed a fifty before the Essex captain went to three figures in a match previously dominated by the ball.

Essex spent much of the morning toiling in the field, with Ashley Cowan unable to bowl and Kevin Dean and Karl Krikken compiling the sort of innings that could have set up a Derbyshire victory.

Dakin strike

Both Dean and Krikken hit 48, and until Jon Dakin wrapped up the innings by having Krikken lbw, Essex could easily have been chasing a target in excess of 200.

As it was, they only needed 190, but at 36 for three early on, they looked in some trouble.

Andy Flower steadied the ship with customary aplomb, however, and acted as the perfect foil for Irani.

Together they took the score to 181 before Dean had Irani caught.

And Flower stayed on to collect his fifty, with Aftab Habib helping him guide the home team to victory.