WES Durston struck his second century of the season as Derbyshire totalled 323 to gain a first-innings lead of 141 in the LV= County Championship against Essex at Chelmsford.

At the close, Essex had reached 46 for two in their second innings, still 95 runs short of clearing the arrears.

Durston scored 116 with the help of eight fours and two sixes, both at the expense of Tom Craddock, but a feature of his innings was to coax the ball into the gaps.

So successfully did he do this that his runs arrived from 136 deliveries, the last of which he despatched into the hands of square leg.

The most productive partnership for the visitors was between Durston and captain Wayne Madsen who put on 77 for the third wicket after coming together following the fall of Martin Guptill who put up an easy catch to Charl Willoughby short mid-wicket to provide Greg Smith with success.

That was the only cause for Essex celebration in the morning session but immediately afterwards, Madsen was caught behind off David Masters for 50, an effort containing five boundaries.

Afterwards, it was left to Durston to give the Derbyshire innings substance, although it was an entertaining last wicket stand of 45 between Tom Poynton and Tim Groenewald that carried them to a third batting point.

During it, Poynton completed his maiden first-class half-century from only 35 balls with the aid of seven fours and two sixes, before Craddock had Groenewald stumped to claim the first five-wicket haul of his career.

They came at a cost of 96 runs from 18.5 overs with four of his victims coming at a cost of 10 runs in a 21-ball spell.

Groenewald wasted no time in making an impact when Essex embarked on their second innings removing both openers in his first couple of overs.

Alviro Petersen departed in the same manner as in the first innings, caught at second slip by Guptill for two off a delivery that hurriedly left him.

It signalled another failure for the South African. Although he scored 145 against Glamorgan, he has failed to get beyond 20 in his other 10 Championship innings.

Tom Westley soon followed Petersen back to the pavilion edging another delivery to first slip with only three runs on the board.

But Owais Shah and Mark Pettini remained defiant through the remaining 16 overs.

Even so, Essex reached the close still facing a gigantic task to prevent their opponents cementing their place at the top of the table.