KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters)
Jamaican fast bowler Jermaine Lawson will replace the injured Reon King on the current West Indies tour of Sri Lanka, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has announced.

Lawson, 19, is expected to join Carl Hooper's team during the second Test in Kandy on Friday morning, for his second trip to Sri Lanka in two years.

King meanwhile is returning to the Caribbean to undergo a hernia operation, after missing the opening Test in Galle which Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets.

"King is not making the kind of improvements that we were hoping for and, as such, we have taken the decision to send him back to the Caribbean," said West Indies manager, Ricky Skerritt.

"This is a big blow for us but we have to do the best with what we've got," he added.

Lawson, who will celebrate his 20th birthday in January, has only played in five first-class matches, taking 14 wickets at an average of 32.14.

But he impressed greatly as a member of the West Indies under-19 side at the 1999-2000 Youth World Cup in Sri Lanka, generating raw pace and maintaining a high level of accuracy.

On his first-class debut in last year's regional Busta Cup competition, he took four for 79 for West Indies B against the touring England A side, clean-bowling England internationals John Crawley, Vikram Solanki and Alex Tudor.

Lawson readily admits, though, that his call-up this week into the senior West Indies side has taken him aback.

"I was a bit surprised," he told Jamaica's Observer newspaper on Wednesday.

"But then I have been preparing myself for a long time for this, so I am ready.

"I have always wanted to play for the West Indies so I have always worked hard.

"I just want to go out there and do well for West Indies and Jamaica."

Fellow Jamaican fast bowler Courtney Walsh, who took a world record of 519 Test wickets before his retirement in April this year, rates Lawson as one of the best young West Indies pace prospects.

"He will have to learn as much as he can, though. It's hard work but it should really make him a better cricketer," Walsh said.

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