Arul Suppiah
Encyclopedia
Arul Vivasvan Suppiah is an English/Malaysian cricket
er. A right-handed batsman and left-arm orthodox spin
bowler, he has played for the Malaysia national cricket team since 1999, and currently plays county cricket
in England
for Somerset
.
He is the youngest player to play for Malaysia, and has played for England at Under-14, Under-15, Under-16 and Under-18 level. He has also represented England Under-16s at hockey
, and played badminton
for his school. His elder brother Rohan
also plays for Malaysia.
, Arul Suppiah moved to England to attend Millfield School
and further his cricket career. He played for the school's cricket team between 1998 and 2001. He made his debut for Malaysia in August 1999 at the age of 15, becoming the youngest player to play for Malaysia. In the Saudara Cup
match against Singapore, he took a hat-trick, the only time this has happened in the 37 year history of the fixture.
He next played for Malaysia in the 2000 ACC Trophy
and in the 2001 Saudara Cup match, but commitments in England began to reduce his availability for Malaysia. He had made his debut for Somerset Second XI in 2000, and played for the first team for the first time in 2002, when he played against West Indies A
, making his first-class
debut. He played a County Championship
match against Lancashire
later in the year.
He had also made his List A debut in 2002, playing for the Somerset Cricket Board
against Cornwall
in the C&G Trophy in August. In September he played four Norwich Union League matches for Somerset. He was not yet a regular member of the Somerset first team and was regularly playing for their Second XI in addition to playing Minor Counties cricket
for Devon
. He played four C&G Trophy matches for Devon between 2003 and 2005.
he was one of a selection of young players offered regular first team cricket by Somerset. He scored his first first-class century
against Derbyshire
that year. He played eight totesport League matches for Somerset in 2005, and also represented them in that year's Twenty20 Cup
, which was won by Somerset. He also played for them in an International 20:20 Club Championship tournament that September, playing against Faisalabad Wolves
and Leicestershire
. He returned to the Malaysian side that October, playing an ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament
match against Nepal.
After playing several matches for Somerset throughout the 2006 season
, he again found himself out of favour in 2007, with his only first-class match coming against Loughborough UCCE
in April. He played just one Pro40 match against Durham
and two Twenty20 matches against Warwickshire
and Northamptonshire
. He continued to play for the Somerset Second XI and for Devon and his lack of matches for Somerset have allowed him to return to international duty for Malaysia, and he played in the ACC Twenty20 Cup
in Kuwait
in October 2007. He returned to the Somerset team during the 2009 season
, when he opened the batting alongside Marcus Trescothick
in the County Championship
, as well as appearing in the majority of Somerset's Friends Provident Trophy and Twenty20 Cup
matches. He scored 1,000 first-class runs in a season for the first time in 2009 and was awarded his county cap during the final game of the 2009 County Championship season against Worcestershire
. On 5th July 2011 in a match against Glamorgan
at Cardiff Suppiah recorded world record figures of 6 for 5 in 3.4 overs for Somerset, bowling his side to victory . He followed this up with a career best 156 against India in their warmup match before the England Test series.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. A right-handed batsman and left-arm orthodox spin
Left-arm orthodox spin
Left-arm orthodox spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket.Left-arm orthodox spin is bowled by a left arm bowler using the fingers to spin the ball from right to left of the cricket pitch...
bowler, he has played for the Malaysia national cricket team since 1999, and currently plays county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
.
He is the youngest player to play for Malaysia, and has played for England at Under-14, Under-15, Under-16 and Under-18 level. He has also represented England Under-16s at hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, and played badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
for his school. His elder brother Rohan
Rohan Suppiah
Rohan Vishnu Suppiah is a Malaysian cricketer. A right-handed batsman and off spin bowler, he has played for the Malaysia national cricket team since 1997...
also plays for Malaysia.
Early career
Born and raised in Kuala LumpurKuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Arul Suppiah moved to England to attend Millfield School
Millfield
Millfield is an independent school in Street in Somerset, in south-west England.The school currently has a roll of 1,260 pupils, of whom 910 are boarders...
and further his cricket career. He played for the school's cricket team between 1998 and 2001. He made his debut for Malaysia in August 1999 at the age of 15, becoming the youngest player to play for Malaysia. In the Saudara Cup
Saudara Cup
The Saudara Cup is an annual cricket match played between Malaysia and Singapore. It has been played since 1970, with Malaysia winning twelve times, Singapore winning eight times, including the most recent match in 2007. The other matches have all been drawn. The name of the tournament comes from...
match against Singapore, he took a hat-trick, the only time this has happened in the 37 year history of the fixture.
He next played for Malaysia in the 2000 ACC Trophy
ACC Trophy
The ACC Trophy or Asian Cricket Council Trophy is a one-day cricket tournament organised by the Asian Cricket Council for the non-test nations in Asia...
and in the 2001 Saudara Cup match, but commitments in England began to reduce his availability for Malaysia. He had made his debut for Somerset Second XI in 2000, and played for the first team for the first time in 2002, when he played against West Indies A
West Indies A cricket team
The West Indies A cricket team is a cricket team representing a sporting confederation of the Caribbean countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago...
, making his first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
debut. He played a County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
match against Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
later in the year.
He had also made his List A debut in 2002, playing for the Somerset Cricket Board
Somerset Cricket Board
The Somerset Cricket Board is the governing body for all recreational cricket in the historic county of Somerset.From 1999 to 2003 the Board fielded a team in the English domestic one-day tournament, matches which had List-A status.-External links:*...
against Cornwall
Cornwall County Cricket Club
Cornwall County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Cornwall and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
in the C&G Trophy in August. In September he played four Norwich Union League matches for Somerset. He was not yet a regular member of the Somerset first team and was regularly playing for their Second XI in addition to playing Minor Counties cricket
Minor counties of English cricket
The Minor Counties are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that are not afforded first-class status. The game is administered by the Minor Counties Cricket Association which comes under the England and Wales Cricket Board...
for Devon
Devon County Cricket Club
Devon County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Devon and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy....
. He played four C&G Trophy matches for Devon between 2003 and 2005.
Later career
In the second half of the 2005 season2005 English cricket season
Before the beginning of the 2005 English cricket season began, a resurgent English cricket team had won four Test series in a row, going unbeaten through the 2004 calendar year. The start of the international season saw England defeat Bangladesh 2–0 in their two-match series, winning both Tests by...
he was one of a selection of young players offered regular first team cricket by Somerset. He scored his first first-class century
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
against Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
that year. He played eight totesport League matches for Somerset in 2005, and also represented them in that year's Twenty20 Cup
Twenty20 Cup
The Twenty20 Cup was a cricket competition for English and Welsh county clubs.In 2010, it has been replaced by Friends Provident t20 as the domestic Twenty20 competition.-History:...
, which was won by Somerset. He also played for them in an International 20:20 Club Championship tournament that September, playing against Faisalabad Wolves
Faisalabad cricket team
Faisalabad Cricket Team is one of the 8 regional first-class cricket clubs, based in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Its limited overs team is called Interloop Wolves Faisalabad...
and Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
. He returned to the Malaysian side that October, playing an ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament
ACC Premier League
The ACC Premier League, previously known as the ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament was a cricket tournament run by the Asian Cricket Council that was contested by Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates...
match against Nepal.
After playing several matches for Somerset throughout the 2006 season
2006 English cricket season
The 2006 English cricket season includes home international series for England against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. England are coming off a winter with more Test losses than wins, for the first time since 2002-03, but still attained their best series result in India since 1985...
, he again found himself out of favour in 2007, with his only first-class match coming against Loughborough UCCE
Loughborough University Centre of Cricketing Excellence
Loughborough MCC University is a cricket coaching centre based at Loughborough University in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England and the name under which the university's cricket team plays.- About :The coaching centre is largely funded by the Marylebone Cricket Club...
in April. He played just one Pro40 match against Durham
Durham County Cricket Club
Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...
and two Twenty20 matches against Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...
and Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
. He continued to play for the Somerset Second XI and for Devon and his lack of matches for Somerset have allowed him to return to international duty for Malaysia, and he played in the ACC Twenty20 Cup
ACC Twenty20 Cup
The Asian Cricket Council Twenty20 Cup is a Twenty20 cricket tournament held in Asia. The first tournament was jointly won by Afghanistan and Oman.-2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup:...
in Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
in October 2007. He returned to the Somerset team during the 2009 season
2009 English cricket season
-Knockout stage:-External links:* from Cricinfo...
, when he opened the batting alongside Marcus Trescothick
Marcus Trescothick
Marcus Edward Trescothick MBE is an English cricketer. He plays first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England in 76 Test matches and 123 One Day Internationals. A left-handed opening batsman, he made his first-class debut for Somerset in 1993 and quickly established...
in the County Championship
2009 County Championship
The 2009 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 110th County Championship season. It was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team played all the others in their division both home and away...
, as well as appearing in the majority of Somerset's Friends Provident Trophy and Twenty20 Cup
Twenty20 Cup
The Twenty20 Cup was a cricket competition for English and Welsh county clubs.In 2010, it has been replaced by Friends Provident t20 as the domestic Twenty20 competition.-History:...
matches. He scored 1,000 first-class runs in a season for the first time in 2009 and was awarded his county cap during the final game of the 2009 County Championship season against Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
. On 5th July 2011 in a match against Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
at Cardiff Suppiah recorded world record figures of 6 for 5 in 3.4 overs for Somerset, bowling his side to victory . He followed this up with a career best 156 against India in their warmup match before the England Test series.