Owais Shah hit 71. Photo credit: Anthony Devlin/PA wire

Yorkshire gained their expected victory over Essex at Chelmsford but it was not enough to claim the LV= County Championship Division Two title.

Derbyshire’s six-wicket win over Hampshire ensured them of the crown by virtue of collecting more victories - after both counties had finished level on points.

Despite a fine unbeaten 71 from Owais Shah, Essex lost by 239 runs after being bowled out for 148 in pursuit of a 388 target.

Azeem Rafiq was the star of Yorkshire’s triumph, scoring two half-centuries in the game, one unbeaten, and emerging with match figures of eight wickets for 115 runs.

The off-spinner bagged a haul of five for 50 in Essex’s second innings, which represented a career-best performance.

Phil Jaques also played a decisive part, pocketing four catches, three of them at short leg.

After resuming on 28 for two, Essex quickly lost nightwatchman Tom Craddock as he prodded an easy catch to Jaques at point.

While Shah remained unruffled and in control, spending more than three hours and 10 minutes at the crease during which he faced 138 balls, the rest of his colleagues were unable to provide the prolonged support required to make it a real contest.

Admittedly Rafiq extracted turn and occasional lift to prove troublesome, but he was helped by poor shot selection that led to the demise of several batsmen.

None of the other batsmen managed to reach 20, while the only stand of note was one of 40 for the fourth wicket involving Mark Pettini.

Pettini departed to a brilliant one-handed catch by Gary Ballance at leg slip after an hour at the crease and 17 runs - and soon afterwards Ryan ten Doeschate skied a mistimed pull to Andrew Gale at midwicket.

A brief and breezy 19 from Adam Wheater brought some relief for the hosts - but not to a woman in the Tom Pearce Stand, who needed medical attention after a Wheater six deflected off her head.

Wheater’s departure, caught off a reverse sweep, pointed the way to the last four wickets going down in the space of 21 deliveries for 13 runs.

Steve Patterson removed Reece Topley and Tymal Mills with successive balls to bring the match to an end and give him figures of four for 34 and leave Shah stranded after an effort containing five fours and one six.

Yorkshire took 22 points and Essex 3 points.