By Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer 
Lawson at Sabina Park yesterday. - Winston Sill
TWENTY-YEAR-old Jamaican fast bowler Jermaine Lawson will leave the island this afternoon to replace the injured Reon King on the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka.
Guyanese King, who is suffering from hernia discovered on the eve of the first Test which the West Indies lost by 10 wickets, will leave Sri Lanka for the Caribbean today.
Lawson, who spent six weeks at the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy last year in Western Australia, burst on to the first-class scene during the 2001 Busta Cup while competing for the West Indies Under-23 team.
The lanky pacer has also played for the West Indies at the Under-19 level, representing them at the Youth World Cup in Sri Lanka and the successful team to England in August.
"I was always looking out for my name to be mentioned because I always trained hard, kept myself fit and told myself one day I wanted to represent the West Indies," said the former Waterford player yesterday.
"When I went to the (training) camp in Antigua my goal was to play for the West Indies in 2001 and it finally came through," a happy Lawson told The Gleaner before leaving the Jamaican development training camp at Sabina Park yesterday.
"I have been playing a lot of cricket and I always like to do well at every level I play. I was a little bit surprised (by the call-up) but am looking forward to doing my best if selected for the third Test," he said.
With four Jamaicans already on the tour (Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Leon Garrick and Wavell Hinds), Lawson said he was happy to join his countrymen. However, he said his focus was to go there and do well for the West Indies.
Former Australian captain and coach Bobby Simpson, who is in Jamaica conducting the three-week training camp for the country's under-23 cricketers, was happy for Lawson.
"From what I have seen he certainly has got the enthusiasm and the drive to want to succeed, he is a young lad who entered into the spirit of the camp and worked very, very hard.
"He is the fastest bowler we have in the camp, he is intelligent, he listens and he can implement the suggestions you make to him and in that regard he is probably going to be a very good selection for the future," Simpson said.
Robert Haynes, coach of Jamaica senior team, said Lawson's selection did not come as a surprise to him.
"Knowing him over the years ... he always pitched the ball up to the bat, he got the ball to swing and he got a bit of pace, so he's probably better suited than any of the other fast bowlers we have there.
"He is one that becomes more dangerous when the ball is old. I think he is someone we should look at for the third Test and not just as a replacement," Haynes said.
