Keith Barker marked his return to Warwickshire with a match-winning wicket haul as Essex were defeated by 41 runs in a gripping Rothesay 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 for 4. Luc Benkenstein made a career-best 39 (93 balls) and debutant Zaman Akhter and Simon Harmer 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 for 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 for four 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 for 5 when Paul Walter (eight from 45 balls) 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.

Harmer and Shane Snater added 30 to bring the target within 100 before Snater edged an outswinger from Jordan Thompson to wicketkeeper Alex Davies to leave his side 112 for 8. This terrific, fluctuating match was not over yet.

Harmer batted with composure and skill for the second time in the match and Akhter settled alongside him. When the latter struck five fours in two overs from Bamber and Nathan Gilchrist, taking the runs required below 50, the home fans started to worry.

Their concerns receded when Harmer edged Beau Webster to slip where Rob Yates took an excellent low catch under pressure. That left Akhter and Jamie Porter with 43 to find and they collected just one before the former ramped Webster and was brilliantly caught by Sam Hain running round from fine leg.