LINTON Jacobs describes his move from Eaglehawk to Strathdale-Maristians in the early 2000s as one that has turned out to be a “fairly good outcome”.
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But that’s an understatement.
The fact Jacobs has captained five premiership teams, holds records for the club’s highest score, wicket-keeping dismissals and three batting partnerships highlights just how successful the move has been for both him and the club.
This Saturday Jacobs will add another accolade to his Suns’ career when he becomes the fourth player in the club’s history to play 200 first XI games.
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While the 33-year-old is now synonymous with Strathdale-Maristians, where he has played since 2002-03, his first taste of senior cricket as a teenager, as well as all his juniors, was played at Eaglehawk.
“The opportunity to wicket-keep at Strathdale and play with my best mate, Ben DeAraugo, came up and it was an opportunity too good to pass up,” Jacobs said on Wednesday.
“It was going to be tough to get the gloves at Eaglehawk from Matt Fitt, who had become their keeper. The option was there to stay at Eaglehawk as a batsman, but I really wanted to take the gloves.
“So I made the move and I guess it has been a fairly good outcome for everyone.”
Jacobs assumed the gloves from Geoff Findlay upon his arrival at Bell Oval.
“Geoff was keen to hand the gloves over and just concentrate on his batting,” Jacobs said.
“It was good to be able to take the gloves while Geoff was still around and soak up all his experience and knowledge.
“I’ve been really fortunate that Geoff is one of the strong leaders who taught me about the game and to play what I think is the right way.
“John Neylon is another one of those, Craig Howard, Andrew Price, Sean McCann off the field and Bernie Fitt who was my coach in the juniors at Eaglehawk have all been strong influences.”
Now in his 16th season at Strathdale-Maristians, Jacobs has spent half his time at the Suns as first XI captain, having had eight years in the role.
He was appointed captain for the 2009-10 season, taking over from Craig Howard, and guided the Suns through the most successful period in the club’s history.
“I was very honoured to get the captaincy gig,” Jacobs said.
“As a cricketer and definitely as a person getting that responsibility probably helped me grow up a little bit.
“I had a bit of fun up until then, so it was time to look at cricket and life in a different perspective.
“I certainly think I’ve become a better person and a better cricketer since the captaincy and I’ll always be indebted to the club for giving me that opportunity.
“There were a lot of good leaders at the time who could have done it. Fortunately they gave it to me and I think I’ve repaid them.”
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Under Jacobs’ guidance the Suns won five flags – 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2014-15 and 2015-16.
But before the run of premiership success, there was the heartbreak of a one-run grand final loss to Bendigo United in 2009-10, coming off the back of a grand final defeat to Golden Square a year earlier.
While the one-run loss of 2009-10 was a bitter pill to swallow at the time, Jacobs has no doubt it lit the fire that has burned since, while also instilling a self-belief in the group that it’s never out of a game given it fought from 9-139 to reach 210 chasing the Redbacks’ 9-211.
“I remember being so disappointed that the boys had made such a game of it and we had got so close,” Jacobs said.
“But that day really instilled into my mind that we were going to get back there and have another crack at it.
“We had a good group at the time, and while there are no guarantees, fortunately we were able to get back there.
“There’s no doubt that 2010 loss was the big turning point for us. Although we didn’t win the game, it gave us the belief we could get back into a game from any situation.”
As well as his eight seasons as Suns’ captain, Jacobs has also had a four-year stint as Bendigo’s Melbourne Country Week skipper.
Jacobs’ career at the Suns has yielded 4831 runs, second only to Kevin Crawford’s 7010.
His 319 dismissals (260 catches and 59 stumpings) are a club record and rank sixth in BDCA history.
He holds the record for the club’s top score of 209, made against Huntly-North Bendigo in round two of 2008-09 – one of four centuries he has notched.
And Jacobs has been involved in Suns’ record partnerships for the first wicket (197 with Cameron Taylor), second (277 with Jono Davidson) and third (230 with Dom Taylor).
His 200th game will be played against Huntly-North Epsom at Bell Oval.
