PAUL Horton departed with the last ball of the day to take the gloss off Lancashire’s efforts to make it back-to-back County Championship Division Two wins.

The Red Rose bowlers stepped up to the plate to skittle Essex at Emirates Old Trafford with Luke Procter taking the honours with a fine return of 4-66 from 22 accurate overs as he ran through the middle order.

And Stephen Parry, who has played as substitute professional for both Barnoldswick and Haslingden this season, also got into the act as he made the most of the absence of Simon Kerrigan.

Kerrigan is on England Lions duty later this week so Parry stepped in and claimed 2-24 from 15 overs.

England skipper Alastair Cook fell for 34 in the morning session and the only other scores of note were 24 from James Foster and 21 from Rob Quiney as Lancashire dominated.

But Graham Napier rescued Essex with a fine century as his side recovered from 151-5 to reach 226 all out.

Napier, normally the most destructive of forces, faced 178 balls in his 215 minute innings as he made 102 not out from 91.5 overs.

Lancashire had to face two overs at the end of the day and Horton and Procter looked in little trouble as they saw off David Masters.

There were few apparent concerns from the first five Reece Topley deliveries – but with the final ball of the day, Horton nicked a short one from the seamer through to former England wicketkeeper Foster to leave Lancashire 7-1.