ESSEX were once again left owing a debt of gratitude to Mark Pettini as they struggled to 182 all out on the opening day of their LV=County Championship Division Two clash against Derbyshire at Chelmsford.

The former skipper proved the rock of their innings with a painstaking 56 that saved his side from real embarrassment.

It was the 28-year-old right-hander's fourth half-century in successive Championship games and was testament to his patience and unwavering concentration.

Pettini needed just over three hours to complete his 50 which, between periods of solid defence, contained four fours and a pull for six at the expense of his former colleague Tony Palladino.

He was to add one more boundary before his vigil, spanning 202 minutes, came to an end.

Sharing the limelight with Pettini was David Wainwright, the left-arm spinner who has made such an encouraging start to his Derbyshire career following his move from Yorkshire.

Varying his flight intelligently, he finished with figures of five for 51 from 22.2 overs in three separate spells which saw the bowler claim a wicket with the first ball of each spell.

It was Wainwright who eventually got rid of Pettini as he hung onto a fierce drive that signalled his third haul of five or more wickets in an innings this season.

The spinner embarked upon his destructive course by getting a delivery to turn sharply to have Owais Shah caught behind, the former England batsman making 21 on his first appearance of the summer for Essex since returning from IPL duty.

Ben Foakes and James Foster were dismissed in the same over while Dan Redfern pulled off a magnificent one-handed diving catch at short leg to get rid of Greg Smith.

Opener Tom Westley was the only Essex batsman to bat with anything approaching fluency, striking half a dozen boundaries in his 36 before dragging on against medium-pacer Ross Whiteley.

Leaders Derbyshire did not get off to the best of starts as David Masters and Charl Willoughby strove to make up for the shortcomings of the batsmen.

With only three runs on the board, Masters claimed the 500th first-class wicket of his career when he removed Paul Borrington leg before wicket.

In the previous over, Martin Guptill should have gone without scoring but Alviro Petersen failed to hold on to an easy waist-high catch in the slips to deny Willoughby an early success.

Guptill and Wayne Madsen took their side to 37 for one at the close.