Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica Lawson attended the St Catherine Cricket Club as a youngster.
At the age of 20 he made his debut for the West Indies in an away test match against India, picking up the wickets of both Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.
Lawson later earned a hat-trick, claiming the wickets of Brett Lee, Stuart MacGill and Justin Langer, in an eventual haul of 7/78 during the final Test of Australia's 2003/04 tour of the Caribbean.
[1] After undergoing a period of extensive remedial work, he returned to Test cricket in mid-2004, but stress fractures came to the fore along with another report of his action in July 2005.
[2] On 29 February 2008 Lawson joined English side Leicestershire as a Kolpak player for the upcoming county cricket season.