Prior to March, the 22-year-old fast bowler had been out of competitive cricket since last May undergoing extensive remedial work on a suspect bowling action.

He made his return to serious competitive cricket in a three-day, first-class match for Jamaica against England at Kingston in March.

His action was under review by the International Cricket Council, after umpires David Shepherd and Srinivas Venkataraghavan reported him during the fourth Test against Australia at St John's last year.

Lawson's progress and his return were hindered by a simultaneous back injury that limited his bowling during the period that his action was under review.

Lawson has captured 29 wickets at 24.31 runs apiece in seven Tests.

During the 2003 home Test series against Australia, he distinguished himself with a hattrick in the third Test at Bridgetown and career-best figures of seven wickets for 78 runs at St John's.

Teenaged fast bowler Ravi Rampaul is the only uncapped Test player in the squad.

He has played 14 one-day internationals over the last 14 months however.

All the fast bowlers, except left-arm medium-fast bowler Pedro Collins, are under the age of 23 with Tino Best and Fidel Edwards completing the pace attack.

Unorthodox left-arm spin bowler Dave Mohammed has also earned a recall after an unimpressive Test debut against South Africa at Cape Town in January.

West Indies captain Brian Lara, who reclaimed the individual world batting record with an unbeaten 400 against England last month, returns to captain the side after missing the preceding ODI series that West Indies swept 3-0.

SQUAD: Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Tino Best, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Ridley Jacobs (wicketkeeper), Jermaine Lawson, Dave Mohammed, Ravi Rampaul, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith.