Jermaine Jay Charles Lawson (born 13 January 1982, Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

) is a West Indian cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er who has played in 13 Tests

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 and 13 ODIs.

Lawson is a fast bowler capable of bowling over 150 km/h. His accomplishments in his first few matches include the rare figures of 6/3 against Bangladesh in his third Test, a hat-trick

Hat-trick

A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...

 against Australia

Australian cricket team

The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

 in 2003/04, claiming the wickets of Brett Lee

Brett Lee

Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...

, Stuart MacGill

Stuart MacGill

Stuart Charles Glyndwr MacGill is a former right-arm leg spin bowler of the Australian cricket team, with a domestic career at Western Australia, New South Wales, Nottinghamshire, Devon and Somerset...

 and Justin Langer

Justin Langer

Justin Lee Langer AM is a former international cricketer who represented Australia in 105 Test matches and the current Assistant Coach and Batting Coach of the Australian cricket team. A left-handed batsman, his opening partnership with Matthew Hayden was one of the most successful of all time...

, and a haul of 7/78 against Australia which was important in the West Indian victory in the final Test of that series.

However, his action has been suspect: he was reported for an "illegal action" on 11 May 2003 by the International Cricket Council

International Cricket Council

The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...

. After remedial work, he returned to Test cricket

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 in mid-2004, but stress fractures and a further reporting of his action in July 2005 have stalled his career to date.

In the summer of 2007 he joined Great Harwood Cricket Club in the Ribblesdale League as their professional.

On 29 Feb 2008 it was announced that Lawson would be joining English side Leicestershire as a Kolpak player for the upcoming county season.