Varun Chopra's entertaining half-century was not enough for Essex as they failed to force a victory against Derbyshire in LV County Championship Division Two at Chelmsford.

After being set a target of 312 from a minimum of 45 overs, Essex never remotely threatened to get into a winning position as they finished on 120 for three.

The captains decided to call it a day at the start of the final hour with 16 overs still remaining.

The home side started encouragingly enough through the efforts of Chopra who survived two early appeals for catches behind before going on to make an entertaining 56 from 74 balls, 10 of which he despatched for four.

But once he was caught at deep backward point cutting Ian Hunter, there was very little aggressive intent from the batsmen.

Jaik Mickleburgh spent 13 deliveries gathering his solitary run while opener Jason Gallian, who featured in a partnership of 88 in 19 overs with Chopra, was content to play his way carefully to finish unbeaten on 44.

He needed 69 balls to gather those runs, although he did find the boundary on six occasions.

Derbyshire, after they had started the day on four for one and an overall lead of 136, reached 179 for six before declaring.

Their hopes of making speedy progress were hampered by the early loss of Stuart Law, who was caught to the leg side by wicketkeeper James Foster for three off Chris Wright.

Only 28 runs came during the first hour before Greg Smith and James Pipe gave the innings much needed momentum.

Smith struck 59, with the help of five fours, while skipper Pipe laced his unbeaten 64 from 67 balls with three sixes and five fours.

Foster picked up three catches in the second innings to take his match total to eight, just one short of the county record.

Derbyshire claimed 10 points from the draw while Essex picked up seven for their efforts.