MARK Lawson's Derbyshire trial was over almost before began yesterday when he broke his finger batting on his debut.

The 22-year-old leg spinner, given the chance to impress in the county's final LV County Championship match of the season away to Leicestershire following his release by Yorkshire, broke the index finger of his right hand.

Just to add to his pain, the ball that has denied him the chance to bowl in the match was also the ball that took his wicket, as he fended off a rising ball to short leg.

"Mark bowled beautifully in the nets for us this week and earned his chance to show us what he can do," said head of cricket John Morris.

"The lad's made a commitment to play a one-off game and it's devastating for him that this has happened."

Lawson made his debut for Yorkshire in 2004 but his progress has been held back by the emergence of another leg spinner, Adil Rashid.

That restricted his appearances to only 15 first-class matches for them before being released last month.