Barker helps Warwickshire to victory against Essex

Warwickshire all-rounder Keith Barker turns 40 in October [Getty Images]

Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Edgbaston (day four)

Warwickshire 190 & 220: Webster 91; Cook 5-58

Essex 205 & 164: Benkenstein 39; Barker 4-29

Warwickshire (19 pts) beat Essex (3 pts) by 41 runs

Match scorecard

Keith Barker marked his return to Warwickshire with a match-winning wicket-haul as Essex were defeated by 41 runs in a gripping County Championship Division One match at Edgbaston.

Chasing 206 to win, Essex were bowled out for 164 after a top order implosion left them 21-4.

Luc Benkenstein made a career-best 39 and debutant Zaman Akhter (35) and Simon Harmer (32) added 51 for the ninth wicket to set up a tense finish.

But Warwickshire held their nerve as Barker, playing his first championship game for Warwickshire for eight years, took 4-29 and Ethan Bamber added two wickets to his three in the first innings to take his tally to 14 in the first three games of the season,

An excellent match for the spectators, played on a good cricket wicket, brought Warwickshire their first win of the season while Essex will face Surrey at The Oval next week needing to hit back after successive defeats.

Essex resumed on the final morning on 11 without loss and the fourth instalment of this fascinating match had a spectacular start as Barker took three wickets in his first over.

Dean Elgar fell lbw, offering no stroke to one which would have hit middle. Two balls later, Sam Cook chipped to cover and three balls after that, Charlie Allison was bowled by one that kept low.

If there was an element of self-destruction to two of those dismissals, it resurfaced three overs later when Matt Critchley lifted Bamber to cover. Essex were 21-4 and it could have got even worse for them when Benkenstein, still to score, watched the ball roll from a defensive shot against the stumps without dislodging a bail.

It was 58-5 when Paul Walter lifted Ed Barnard, who began with six successive maidens, to mid-off. Benkenstein and Michael Pepper added 22 from 16 overs up to lunch but the dogged sixth-wicket pair fell in the first two overs after the interval. Pepper edged Barker to first slip and Benkenstein's off-stump was trimmed by a lovely ball from Bamber.