Varun Chopra struck his fourth Friends Provident Trophy half-century of the campaign as Essex inflicted a first defeat on Lancashire at Chelmsford.

The 21-year-old right-hander struck a stylish 72 to pave the way for a six-wicket triumph after the visitors had been bowled out in the 45th over for a disappointing 157.

Chopra reached his half-century with the help of 10 fours and had scored exactly 50 in boundaries before he was stumped off the left-arm spin of Stephen Parry.

Chopra shared in a third-wicket stand of 82 in 21 overs with Matt Walker, who made 34, after Glen Chapple had briefly given Lancashire hope of making a real fight of it.

He picked up the first two wickets relatively cheaply, getting rid of Mark Pettini for 13 before removing Lord’s Test hero Ravi Bopara two overs later.

Bopara managed only two before he was well caught low down at short mid-wicket by Steven Croft to leave Essex 33 for two.

Chopra and Walker, however, quickly gained the upper hand and, although both were to depart in the space of five overs, Walker being run out, Grant Flower and James Foster led the holders to their target with 35 deliveries to spare.

Luke Sutton and Parry spared Lancashire from a more humiliating defeat.

They came together at the fall of the eighth wicket in the 22nd over with only 82 on the board.

But they got their heads down to add 74 in 22 overs before off-spinner James Middlebrook bowled Parry for 31, an innings which contained Lancashire’s only six – a straight drive at the expense of leg-spinner Danish Kaneria.

When Graham Napier brought the innings to an end soon afterwards by bowling Gary Keedy, Sutton was left unbeaten on 31, an effort spanning 73 balls and containing just one four.

Lancashire had got off to a bad start by losing Paul Horton, scorer of two centuries in his previous matches this season in the competition, for a duck.

He had his leg stump knocked back by Napier, paving the way for pace man David Masters to heap further misery on the visitors as he picked up three quick wickets.

At that stage, Lancashire were being held together by Ashwell Prince. But, just when he looked set for a substantial score, Bopara came on to breach his defence in his opening over.

Prince’s 44 came from 58 balls and included seven boundaries and, either side of his dismissal, Kaneria struck twice to plunge Lancashire deeper into trouble.

That brought Sutton and Parry together, but despite their gallant efforts, they never seriously threatened to set Essex a demanding target on a pitch which was far from difficult.

Parry was the one visiting player to come out with much credit, following up his innings by conceding just 17 runs in his 10 overs.

For Essex, Masters took three for 19 while Napier and Kaneria each bagged a couple of wickets for 34 and 27 respectively.