ARUL Suppiah was the star of the show as Somerset's young lions roared back to winning ways with a 26-run victory over Surrey in the C&G Trophy South Conference at the Brit Oval on Sunday.

The 22-year-old all rounder, making his first appearance for the county in 2006, hit 63 and then took 4-39 as Surrey were bowled out in persuit of Somerset's 279-5.

Suppiah, who played for Devon the previous weekend and in a second eleven match at Bristol during the week, didn't know that he was in the squad until Friday evening and wasn't sure that he was playing until the morning of the match.

But none of this put Suppiah off. He remained unfazed throughout the match and ended the day by winning the man-of-the-match award, presented by former England Test star John Edrich.

Batting first, Somerset posted a total of 279-5 from their 50 overs, that was based upon fluent 92 from acting captain Matt Wood, which came off 100 balls and included 13 fours.

Suppiah, batting at number three scored 63, and added 100 for the second wicket with the skipper before Wood departed.

Australian Cameron White hit 47 off 63 balls, while James Hildreth (24) and Wes Durston (19) kept the momentum going until the end of the innings.

When Surrey responded they were well placed at 211-4 thanks to 56 from Mark Ramprakash and Alistair Brown who added 66 before slow left-armer Suppiah dismissed dangerman Brown for 47 in his first over.

The young all-rounder then accounted for Rikki Clarke for 36 as well as Ian Salisbury for a hard hit 22 and Tim Murtagh the latter two being bowled until Surrey were all out for 253 with 13 balls to spare.

White picked up 2-37 from seven overs of his leg spin, but Suppiah was the hero with the ball, ending with the impressive figures of four for 39 from his spell of 8.5 overs.

"I knew that when my first team chance came along I had to take it with both hands," said Suppiah.

"At the start I didn't really feel too comfortable batting but decided to stay around out there and as time went on I found that things got easier.

"I had a plan to keep a full length when I bowled and it paid off for me.

"We thought we had scored enough runs really because the pitch was a bit sticky and it wasn't easy to score, especially when the pace was taken off the ball."