HEREFORDSHIRE County Cricket Club head coach Steve Watkins believes there are a number of Second XI players who can make the step up.

Some of the county's regular players are unable to commit to the three-day championship games, meaning there are spaces available.

The Seconds have their first game at Berkshire this weekend and Watkins says it will be an ideal time to see who will be able to make the transition to First XI duties once the Championship games start on June 4.

"We know we won't be able to put the same side out as we have for the last four games," said Watkins.

"We're losing Jamie McIlroy and one or two other bowlers.

"We're happy with the spin bowlers, but we certainly need a couple of seamers from somewhere.

"We're looking at a couple of players in that development side, and working with Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, will see if we can maybe get a couple of them who can help us out a little bit.

"It will be good to see how someone like Barney Morgan, who has done the 12th man duties, does at that level.

"There's some good young players there, like Alex Hinckley and Luke Toulacz who have been part of the Worcestershire development, Oliver Rogoff and Charlie Williams.

"There are also a couple of local boys who are playing out of the county that we can certainly start looking at."

Watkins now coaches both the first and second XIs due to Steve Williams stepping down as head coach.

As reported by the Hereford Times, Williams allegedly received threatening messages and felt it was in the best interests of everyone if he stepped aside.

Watkins said he was happy to step up to the plate when asked if he would coach the first team.

"I was always in the shadows and was always going to run the second team, which I did last year," he said.

"When Steve became unavailable, it wasn't too difficult to step up.

"The one day games proved to be not too difficult, but it will interesting with the all the three-day cricket coming up."

Watkins said he has been pleased with how the local players have performed for the county.

"We know we're not going to fill the team with eight or nine Herefordians, we haven't got that strength in depth, but we know we've got players like Joe Crichard, Ian Bullock, Taylor Pugh and Jamie McIlroy who, given the opportunity and a bit of consistency in selection, will improve their own cricket to become that Minor County player," said Watkins.

McIlroy says he can see what the club are trying to do.

"We knew with the change we would struggle to settle in, but we did ok," he said.

"It's going to take a long time for things to settle in, but I think it's going to be a good thing.

"It's good to have local talent coming through and if they're pushing the team on merit, then it's well deserved."

Some tight bowling from McIlroy in the final over helped Herefordshire claim their second win of this season's Knock-out Trophy campaign with a nailbiting nine-victory against Shropshire.

"It was good to get a bit of credibility back after failing to defend the trophy well, and was nice to finish with a win," added McIlroy.

"We spoke as a group and we just wanted to finish on a high and enjoy it, which I think we have.

"We saw the pitch was a bit wet and we wasn't sure what the play would be like, but it turned into a great game."

Watkins added that that it was nice that his team were able to post a competitive total of 265-7.

"We know we haven't batted as well as we can do, so it was nice to put a score on the scoreboard and were able to defend it," said Watkins.

"In the Staffordshire game, we were certainly in a position to get the score to 260 to 270, but lost wickets at key times and got bowled out for 190.

"Against Cheshire, we were a little bit unlucky with the wicket and a couple of batters got unplayable balls, so it was a nice to get a score on the board against Shropshire."

* McIlroy, Crichard and Bullock had a frustrating day for Brockhampton on Saturday as their Birmingham & District League Premier Division match against Kidderminster only lasted 21 balls.

Kidderminster were 21-1 when rain stopped play; McIlroy taking the wicket.