LUCKLESS leg spinner Mark Lawson may still have the chance to become a Derbyshire player despite not being able to bowl on his debut for the county at Leicester last week.

The 22-year-old, released by Yorkshire a month ago, was offered the opportunity to show his abilities in the final Championship match of the season but broke the index finger on his right hand batting in the first innings.

But head of cricket John Morris (below) is still keen to take a closer look at Lawson before the start of next season and has him registered with the club on a week-to-week contract, which effectively gives him first refusal on the player.

Lawson, an England Under-19 international, was highly rated by Yorkshire before the emergence of Adil Rashid, which cost him his place in the pecking order at Headingley, while Derbyshire lost one of their spin options when Nayan Doshi was released.

"He'll join up again with us in pre-season and we will have another look at him," said Morris.

"He's committed to going out to Australia this winter, which I'm delighted to hear because it shows he wants to play.

"He's going to have three months over there in Darren Lehmann's academy and the door is very much open when he comes back to have a go with us in pre-season and see how he gets on. If he does the job, we'll look to take him on.

"Mark seems a nice lad and he bowled nicely in the nets but I can't offer him anything on what I saw in the nets. It would have been nice to see him bowl at Leicester but even if he had got a five-for, I think it would have been best to say 'see you next summer son' and he knows that.

"He appreciated the opportunity and it was absolutely desperate for him that he broke his finger. It would have been great to see him bowl and he might have made a difference."

Morris' plans for 2009 should become a little clearer this week regarding the players who are now out of contract. Steve Stubbings, Dan Birch, Ian Hunter and Wayne White have come to the end of their current deals and Morris has still not indicated who has and who has not been offered the chance to stay.

The release of Doshi and Rikki Clarke, plus the retirement of Kevin Dean, has already left a hole in a fairly thin squad, so Morris has also had to consider who may be available as new signings as he weighs up which players to retain.

But, for now, Morris is giving little away.

"I'm waiting for one or two players from within the camp to come back to me but at this point there isn't a great deal to tell," he added.