NATHAN Lyon will make his Worcestershire Rapids debut tomorrow in the final Royal London One-Day Cup North Group match against Derbyshire Falcons at the 3aaa County Ground.

The off-spinner linked up at New Road this morning after flying in from Australia for a month long spell with the County as a replacement for compatriot John Hastings who is on ICC Trophy duty.

Lyon will have to play against the Falcons to be eligible for the knockout stages of the competition for which the North Group leaders Rapids have qualified - and will secure a home semi-final if they come top of the group by winning tomorrow.

Director of cricket Steve Rhodes said: "To have Nathan play in that game is not ideal for him in the sense of he is has only just arrived and is acclimatising.

"There might be a little bit of an issue but it is an absolute necessity because we need to have an overseas player available for the knockout stages.

"To play in the knockout stages of the 50 over competition, you have to have played a group game.

"It fits in well with giving John (Hastings) an early disappearance with the Australian team and to freshen up for his time in the ICC Trophy."

The knockout rounds take place in mid June and there is still a possibility Hastings could be available depending on how far Australia progress in the ICC Trophy.

Rhodes said: "If we've got that situation covered, we are in a better position. That is the reason Nathan is going to play.

"How well Australia do in the Champions Trophy, we don't know.

"How far John goes with Australia, we don't know and how long he will be away from us we don't know, so we are just covering bases."

Rhodes has been delighted with Hastings overall contribution since linking up with Worcestershire towards the end of March.

He said: "John has bowled very well at crucial times actually, some of those towards the ends of innings times.

"He has been very hard to predict what he is going to bowl and that is because of the skills he has got."