FORMER Somerset cricket star Arul Suppiah has spoken about his most difficult test – taking on anorexia that threatened to take over his life.

The all-rounder, who retired from cricket after scoring 7,350 runs and 95 wickets, represented Somerset for 11 seasons.

But despite a successful on-pitch career, the talented sportsman was battling inner demons away from the crease.

He reached out to the Professional Cricketers’ Trust through the Confidential Helpline for support and was diagnosed with depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety, which he began to manage through his late 20s and into his 30s.

However, the turning point for Malaysian-born Arul came five years after he retired from playing in 2013, when he was on the verge of fainting at the end of teaching a lesson at Queens College Taunton.

He has now spoken about his experience in support of the Professional Cricketers’ Trust (PCT), the registered charity that supports members of the Professional Cricketers’ Association and their families when they are in need.

“In 2017, I decided to be a vegetarian and be healthy,” said Arul, who played alongside PCT director Marcus Trescothick at Somerset, who himself has been a pioneering voice in raising awareness of mental health related issues.

“But I could sense that something was talking to me, and I call this ‘The Voice,’ and The Voice is the eating disorder.

“Come February and March, people were starting to comment that I was starting to lose weight and I just nodded, and I think what it did was just fuel the ego, fuel The Voice, and just strengthen it.

“I did not realise anything of that and during spring 2017 – during the Easter term – I think that’s just when it started to get a bit more intense.”

And he is not alone. Former England skipper and TV presenter Andrew Flintoff has produced a documentary called Living with Bulimia, revealing he suffered from the eating disorder after feeling victimised for his appearance by the British press at the start of his international career.

In 2021 alone, the PCT supported 106 individuals with mental health problems, taking the total since 2015 to 526.

By 2017, Arul said his disorder had got so bad it was having an adverse effect on his ability to live – forcing him to spend periods of time isolated and avoiding social situations, with his mental health worsening.

“I couldn’t socialise,” he said. “I didn’t know how to go out with my friends to have dinner – my answer would be ‘no, I cannot come for dinner’ because I had to do my exercise or because I could only eat types of certain safe food.

“In the summer of 2017, I think that’s when things started to change in terms of my behaviour, my mood – I was very snappy, I was throwing tantrums and I was spending time a lot of time by myself.

“I was completely possessed by The Voice.”

After his dizzy spell in 2018, he decided to get to the bottom of his troubles and visit his GP, who gave him the news he had become drastically underweight.

Arul in action during a stellar career in cricket. Picture: Harrias/Creative Commons

A former professional cricketer and colleague at the time put him in touch with the PCT, who are partnering with the ECB and Sky Sports ahead of Finals Day of the Vitality Blast to highlight the work of the players’ charity and to raise much-needed funds.

The Trust was created to support the health and wellbeing of PCA members who have entertained cricket supporters over the years on the pitch for when they are in desperate need for help.

Several past and present players have spoken so openly on support they have received, including Yorkshire Vikings spinner Dom Bess – formerly of Somerset – and Hampshire Hawks seamer Chris Wood, who are set to feature on Saturday.

With the Trust taking centre stage for Finals Day, awareness of the charity will be raised with the aim to create funds to continue its work in being a vital support mechanism for cricket’s biggest assets, its players.

And it is this help and support Arul credits with giving him another chance at life.

“The Trust rang me and said, ‘do I need help?’ and I’ve gone ‘yes, I do, I really do need help,’ and that’s when I was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa,” he added.

“I never, never in a million years thought that would have happened to me.

“In terms of how the Trust helped me, it was simply amazing, and I was very lucky to see a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and a dietician all together.

“That’s when I managed to turn a corner and managed to show progress, and progress then was to put on weight.

“In terms of recovery I am still very much on the journey and I think the Trust has given me a second chance, another opportunity to life and I sincerely thank the Trust for that.”

For more information on the PCA, PCT and to donate to the cause, visit thepca.co.uk.