Essex secured the one point needed to make certain of promotion despite an impressive hundred by Usman Afazaal.

The home side's place in Division One was secured when Graham Napier trapped Darren Bicknell lbw for 53 to leave the visitors on 160 for three.

But the rest of the day belonged to Afzaal, who struck two sixes and 17 fours in his 134, his fourth Championship century of the summer.

He was eventually dismissed as Notts lost three wickets with the total on 250, all of them to off-spinner James Middlebrook, who finished with three for 69.

Medium pacer Jon Dakin claimed three for 87 and there were two wickets each for Napier and Jon Stephenson, but Essex were held up by Chris Read and Andy Harris, who shared a stand of 76 for the 10th wicket.

Notts, who began the game in third place in the table, ran into early trouble after home skipper Paul Grayson won the toss and chose to put them in.

Jason Gallian and Guy Welton were back in the poavilion with only 50 on the board before Bicknell and Afzaal steadied the innings with a stand of 110.

Essex had to wait until after lunch for their third - and most important wicket - and then continued to work their way through the Notts order as Afzaal counter-attacked at the other end.

His century came off only 110 deliveries but his dismissal came in the middle of a collapse which saw five wickets go down for 27 runs.

Last man Harris proved an unexpected obstacle, however, allowing Read to go for his shots, a tactic which brought him 73 off 82 balls, with a six and 10 fours, before he was caught by Middlebrook off Dakin.

The Essex openers only had to survive one and a half overs at the end of the day before bad light put an end to proceedings.

Essex: D D J Robinson, W I Jefferson, J P Stephenson, M E Waugh, A Habib, A P Grayson (Capt), J S Foster (Wkt), J M Dakin, J D Middlebrook, G R Napier, J B Grant.

Nottinghamshire: J E R Gallian (Capt), G E Welton, D J Bicknell, U Afzaal, B M Shafayat, P Johnson, C M W Read (Wkt), P J Franks, S C G MacGill, G J Smith, A J Harris.