When I heard that the world's best Twenty20 bowling performance had been achieved, I must admit that the name of Arul Suppiah didn't spring immediately to mind. Even as a Somerset supporter, I'm well aware that the Malaysian-born product of Millfield School isn't even the number one spinner in the side.
Against Glamorgan this week, he was the sixth bowler used by Marcus Trescothick yet in just 22 balls he took the last six wickets for just five runs, shattering the previous T20 best set three years ago in the IPL. OK, so it was a shining example of a spinner's wicket: Somerset team-mates Murali Kartik and Max Waller had snapped up the first four wickets, and all six claimed by Glamorgan also fell to slow bowlers. However, despite modestly declaring that he wasn't even expecting to bowl at all, Suppiah did a fantastic job and has brought the favourites back into contention for the quarter-finals after rain wiped out four of their group matches.
Despite not being the biggest run-accumulator, fastest scorer or most dangerous bowler, 'Ruly' is very popular with the Taunton crowd. A stalwart of ten seasons, he has advanced to open the batting in Championship cricket. Five hundreds and 3,722 runs in 114 innings aren't much to shout about but he performs a useful job as steady foil for Trescothick. He is less suited to batting in one-day games and when selected, appears lower down the order to steer things home if the big-hitters like Trego, Kieswetter or Pollard have departed. Oddly, given his stunning haul yesterday, Suppiah has a pretty poor record with the ball. For years, he had the thankless task of holding up one end trying to stem the flow of runs on perfect Taunton batting tracks, taking a mere 41 wickets in 68 first-class matches. His one-day return has been no better.
Even since Somerset introduced a belated policy of preparing pitches which make for a proper contest between bat and ball, Suppiah hasn't profited because the arrival of Murali Kartik meant he wasn't often required to fulfil his former role of long-suffering left-arm spinner. Indeed, Kartik was brilliant in 2010. However, Suppiah remains a steadfast batsman, excellent fielder and modest member of a very talented squad. Being a world record-holder probably sits uneasily on his shoulders but it would be great if, as a team member he could take Somerset closer to the titles that the county deserves.
