An unbeaten 88 from James Foster defied Leicestershire for more than four hours to steer Essex to a draw in the County Championship clash at Chelmsford as the home side closed on 320 for nine wickets in their pursuit of 445 for victory.

For most of the final day, the odds had favoured victory for the Midlanders but a plucky rearguard action from the home side saw them hang on grimly thanks to Foster's guidance.

His relief at salvaging a draw for the home side was illustrated by an impassioned punching of the air at the finish and he admitted that there had been some tension between the teams during the game.

"There had been a quite a few words spoken out in the middle over the past couple of days, which is the way it goes sometimes, but we put up a real good fight and got the draw," he said "At the start of the day, we felt we might stand a chance of a win if we could get a monster partnership early on but it wasn't to be and in the end, it was just fight, fight, fight and I was delighted.

"I haven't really got going in the four-day game yet this season and so that performance gave me a lot of satisfaction."

Foster, who faced 212 deliveries and struck 14 boundaries, dug in to anchor the survival plot applying admirable concentration and technique while always quick to deliver some fine strokes notably through the covers when opportunity arose.