Ramasamy Suppiah leans back in his seat overlooking the Selangor Turf Club playing field, and contemplates why his son, Arul, has not played more county cricket matches this season. "Too many foreigners," he concludes, without a hint of irony. Seven thousand miles away, Malaysia's first - and only - first-class cricketer is trying to plot his way into the Somerset first team in front of West Indians and South Africans with European law on their side.
Arul Suppiah, 24, is not the only player in top-level cricket to originate from outside of the game's recognised Test-playing nations. Yet, born and raised in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, he is certainly the most exotic. His county commitments forced him to miss the ACC Trophy - won by Hong Kong after a final win over the UAE on Sunday - in his homeland, much to his compatriots' chagrin. Malaysia were also-rans without their star player.
"He could have brought some balance to our team, and we really missed him due to his domestic schedule. Somerset couldn't release him," says his brother, Rohan Vishnu Suppiah, a spin-bowler who is also the national team captain. "Malaysian people know him. I think the whole of Malaysia is very proud of him being the first guy playing county cricket. "He really came up the hard way. He had to move to England at the age of 12, and struggled at first.
"Now he is doing really well and we are very proud. Hopefully we will see him playing for England one day - that is his dream." Suppiah Snr's suggestion that "too many foreigners" are barring his son's progress is not without truth. While the county game is awash with soldiers of fortune from Test nations flouting the Kolpak rule, Arul is almost entirely anglicised now. He moved to one of England's premier sporting schools on a scholarship when he was aged 12 - after prompting by Sir Donald Bradman, among others.
"When Arul was 11-plus, he was sponsored to go to Lord's for a winter coaching clinic for a month," recalls his father. "The MCC head coach gave him a fantastic report, saying, for his age, he had never seen such a fantastic cricketer. "Millfield School [a public school which set sportsmen like Gareth Edwards, Simon Jones and the Hollioake brothers on the path to stardom] saw that report. "The headmaster contacted me and offered him an unconditional 80 per cent scholarship, up to O-Levels, with a review before A-Levels.
"Another sports association in Malaysia said they would take care of the 20 per cent balance, so we just had to ask Arul if he wanted to go. "It was a very big decision to make because he was only 12, going to somewhere which is 12 hours away by air. "The first six months were very problematic, adapting to the climate, the culture, the food. After that, somehow or other, he blended." The doubts that nearly held Arul back were dispelled by Greg Chappell, who had befriended the Suppiahs in the lead-up to the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games cricket competition.
The former Australia captain, who had played as an overseas player for Somerset, was behind Bradman sending a letter to persuade Arul to take his chance at the school. Mr Suppiah still has it framed at his home in Kuala Lumpur. "He was selected to go to India as part of England's under-19s side," added Suppiah Snr. Arul's tailored England blazer had already been made. "Two days before they left, they found out he had a Malaysian passport and they said he couldn't go. He needs a British passport. Somerset are working on him getting British citizenship. He has gone for the interview and passed the exam."
Despite Arul's success, it is still his father Ramasamy who is known as Malaysia's "Mr Cricket". Rarely has a nickname been harder won. The Australian batsman Mike Hussey goes by the same moniker, mainly due to his assiduousness at nets. Suppiah Snr is far more complete. He is the sports officer at the Selangor Turf Club cricket ground, as well as the honorary secretary of the Malaysian Cricket Association. His other son is the national team captain, while his wife, Banu, does the scoring.
"My two boys were born during the time when I was very active playing sport," he adds. "We are just average people. We had no servants, or anybody to take care of them. So whenever I went to play cricket on Sundays, the boys and their mother would follow me. "They would throw the ball around, and at lunchtime they would take a bat and start playing. "When they were 10 they were already playing social cricket for my club. That is how they picked up the game and their mother picked up scoring."
@Email:pradley@thenational,ae
