James Foster equalled his county's record for the most dismissals in a match by a wicketkeeper for the second time as Essex beat Gloucestershire by 10 wickets in LV= County Championship Division Two at the Essex County Ground.
By coincidence, it was against the West Countrymen that he joined David East (1983) and Kenneth Gibson (1911) at the top of the list when he bagged nine victims at Bristol five years ago.
On this occasion, he took three catches in the second innings to go with the six victims claimed on the opening day to pave the way for Essex's first championship victory since the opening match of the campaign.
Foster collected his ninth catch in the first over after lunch when Jack Taylor was stuck on the back foot as Jesse Ryder found the edge.
Gloucestershire had resumed the day on 194 for four, still requiring a further 133 to avoid an innings-defeat, and needing something spectacular and substantial from the last of their recognised batsmen, Ian Cockbain and Will Gidman.
WICKET WATCH! Smith is bowled by Ryder for 16 - http://t.co/VWUds9ROMK#WicketWatch
— Essex Cricket (@EssexCricket) July 2, 2014
But such hopes were quickly extinguished as both were sent back to the pavilion during the first dozen overs of the morning.
Cockbain departed when Ryan ten Doeschate found enough outswing and lift to have him caught at first slip by Ryder, and Gidman was undone by Monty Panesar as the left-arm spinner found just enough turn to beat his tentative push.
After that, it was only a matter of time before Essex were able to celebrate their first championship success since beating Derbyshire in April.
With David Masters missing from the attack on the final day with a foot injury, Gloucestershire's tailenders did at least make a fight of it. Adam Rouse and Tom Smith added 40 in nine overs, a partnership that was brought to an end when Smith was bowled shouldering arms.
It was Ryder who then struck with successive deliveries in the first over after lunch.
ESSEX WIN by 10 wickets Nick Browne concludes the gamer. He finishes 9*, Tom Westley 1, Essex 24 points. #EssvGlo
— Essex Cricket (@EssexCricket) July 2, 2014
Firstly, he had Jack Taylor caught by Foster to give the Essex captain a share of the wicketkeeping record and, with his next delivery, he bowled David Payne.
That brought together Rouse and Matt Taylor to provide dogged resistance as they added 52 runs and in doing so both registered career-best efforts.
Essex used six bowers in an attempt to break the stand but the pair, amid dogged defence, also produced a few sweetly-timed drives before ten Doeschate at last broke through by trapping Rouse lbw when he was one run short of what would have been a deserved half-century.
Matt Taylor was left unbeaten on 32, leaving Essex with the formality of scoring nine runs to bag a maximum haul of 24 points from the match.
Tom Westley and Nick Browne needed just nine deliveries to reach the winning post as the visitors were left with just two points for their efforts.
Essex head coach Paul Grayson said: "It was a good team performance and shows what we are capable of.
"It certainly gives us a great deal of confidence going into our next championship game with Derbyshire at Chesterfield next week."
Gloucestershire director of cricket John Bracewell added: "It was one of those games where the toss was quite important but, having said that, I thought it was a very good wicket for four-day cricket.
"We should really have got 350 in our first innings but you can't lose the first two days and expect to fight back successfully."