After an early start in what has been a “life-changing” cricket career for former Chevrolet Warriors captain Davy Jacobs the journey has come to an end.
Jacobs recently shocked the cricketing nation when he announced his retirement from the game after a 14-year professional career. He retired with immediate effect.
But Jacobs can take solace in the fact that it is two years more than might have been had he not bounced back spectacularly from a severe hip operation in 2012 which forced him to take an extended injury break.
At the time the Saturday Dispatch reported on the many hurdles the former Warrior faced, all of which he went on to overcome.
Along with his hip operation, the passionate cricketers’ family had also experienced a string of startling health scares; his wife Lizelle was found to have a 10cm tumour on her adrenalin gland with a “99.9% chance it was cancerous”, which was removed, and his daughter Lilly, who was two at the time, had been admitted to hospital with a severe case of pneumonia.
Jacobs started playing professional cricket straight after high school, and now aged 32, which is when most cricketers soar in their careers, has decided to listen to his body and give it a rest.
“I have always given 150% of myself, no half measures, whereas maybe sometimes 100% or even 95% could have been good enough. I always wanted to be the strongest, fastest, fittest and to push myself to the ultimate limits.”
“I trained for Iron Man to play cricket. That doesn’t even make sense and it’s probably why my body started breaking down, why I’m sitting here with surgical scars all over my body – but that is who I am.”
The enthusiastic cricketer says going forward, he has no regrets because giving his all to the sport he has aspired to play since he was nine years old, has lead him to where he is now. He has no regrets.
“Cricket is a beautiful game, it is life and, like life itself has its challenges. Cricket changed my life and gave me opportunities to travel the world, playing with and against some of the best players to have ever played the game and along the way I met many amazing people. I experienced so many different cultures, and it has truly been a blessing.”
Looking back on his career, Jacobs highlights what has been the most memorable time: “I got the captaincy at a young age, and at that time it had been 18 years since this region had won a trophy. Kepler Wessels was the last captain to lift a trophy. So to have achieved that straight away was something incredibly special. We went on to record the double, not only winning the one day competition, but also the T20.”
Through that, Jacobs’ team qualified for the Champion’s League for the first time. Even though they lost in the final to Chennai Super Kings, his dream had been fulfilled, his team was up amongst the best franchise teams in the world – and in fact were second best in the world.
“Growing up as a kid I had these cricket cards you could trade with your friends. I had this one particular card – it was of a 16-year-old boy who had already played three test matches for his country. I told my dad I wanted to swop this card for a famous player. My dad responded by saying, the guy is only seven years older than me, and is playing international cricket already, so hang onto the card.”
Twenty-two years later Jacobs, the most successful Warriors captain, played in an IPL game representing the Mumbai Indians in India and was honoured at the opportunity to play alongside the young boy he once had on a card.
“I was walking down the stairs in Mumbai for a game in the IPL, representing the Mumbai Indians. As I stepped onto the field, I looked to my left, at my opening partner, the kid on that card, whose name was being chanted by 60000 fans in the stadium: “Sachin Sachin Sachin”.
Having closed this chapter in his cricket career, this father of two, Lilly, now five and youngest member of the family Lexi, two, is currently working towards obtaining a teacher’s degree via Unisa and is looking forward to having a whole lot of unscheduled time.
“After Lilly’s severe case of pneumonia, Lizelle gave up her job as a teacher to look after her right through to Lexi’s arrival and she has only recently returned to her profession now that the kids are old enough. They are all healthy and she couldn’t be happier.”
“Now that I am a free man, I have a lot of time to spend with my number one priority, my family and secondly, giving back to this incredible game.”
Jacobs said that in the future he foresaw hosting cricket clinics, engaging in cricket commentary and possibly reviewing his book that he hopes to publish one day, which he used as an escape at times when his injuries and “struggles with surgeries” got to him.
“Cricket is my passion, it is what I love and I will always be involved with the game.” — mbalit@dispatch.co.za
l This Out of the Vault series is an opportunity for readers to request us to follow up on stories that have appeared in the Daily Dispatch over the years. If there is something we have covered that was of great interest to you and you believe we could follow it up, please e-mail us on juliab@dispatch.co.za or ziphon@dispatch.co.za or call Zipho or Julia on 043-702-2000.
End of the road for Jacobs
Jacobs recently shocked the cricketing nation when he announced his retirement from the game after a 14-year professional career. He retired with immediate effect.
But Jacobs can take solace in the fact that it is two years more than might have been had he not bounced back spectacularly from a severe hip operation in 2012 which forced him to take an extended injury break.
At the time the Saturday Dispatch reported on the many hurdles the former Warrior faced, all of which he went on to overcome.
Along with his hip operation, the passionate cricketers’ family had also experienced a string of startling health scares; his wife Lizelle was found to have a 10cm tumour on her adrenalin gland with a “99.9% chance it was cancerous”, which was removed, and his daughter Lilly, who was two at the time, had been admitted to hospital with a severe case of pneumonia.
Jacobs started playing professional cricket straight after high school, and now aged 32, which is when most cricketers soar in their careers, has decided to listen to his body and give it a rest.
“I have always given 150% of myself, no half measures, whereas maybe sometimes 100% or even 95% could have been good enough. I always wanted to be the strongest, fastest, fittest and to push myself to the ultimate limits.”
“I trained for Iron Man to play cricket. That doesn’t even make sense and it’s probably why my body started breaking down, why I’m sitting here with surgical scars all over my body – but that is who I am.”
The enthusiastic cricketer says going forward, he has no regrets because giving his all to the sport he has aspired to play since he was nine years old, has lead him to where he is now. He has no regrets.
“Cricket is a beautiful game, it is life and, like life itself has its challenges. Cricket changed my life and gave me opportunities to travel the world, playing with and against some of the best players to have ever played the game and along the way I met many amazing people. I experienced so many different cultures, and it has truly been a blessing.”
Looking back on his career, Jacobs highlights what has been the most memorable time: “I got the captaincy at a young age, and at that time it had been 18 years since this region had won a trophy. Kepler Wessels was the last captain to lift a trophy. So to have achieved that straight away was something incredibly special. We went on to record the double, not only winning the one day competition, but also the T20.”
Through that, Jacobs’ team qualified for the Champion’s League for the first time. Even though they lost in the final to Chennai Super Kings, his dream had been fulfilled, his team was up amongst the best franchise teams in the world – and in fact were second best in the world.
“Growing up as a kid I had these cricket cards you could trade with your friends. I had this one particular card – it was of a 16-year-old boy who had already played three test matches for his country. I told my dad I wanted to swop this card for a famous player. My dad responded by saying, the guy is only seven years older than me, and is playing international cricket already, so hang onto the card.”
Twenty-two years later Jacobs, the most successful Warriors captain, played in an IPL game representing the Mumbai Indians in India and was honoured at the opportunity to play alongside the young boy he once had on a card.
“I was walking down the stairs in Mumbai for a game in the IPL, representing the Mumbai Indians. As I stepped onto the field, I looked to my left, at my opening partner, the kid on that card, whose name was being chanted by 60000 fans in the stadium: “Sachin Sachin Sachin”.
Having closed this chapter in his cricket career, this father of two, Lilly, now five and youngest member of the family Lexi, two, is currently working towards obtaining a teacher’s degree via Unisa and is looking forward to having a whole lot of unscheduled time.
“After Lilly’s severe case of pneumonia, Lizelle gave up her job as a teacher to look after her right through to Lexi’s arrival and she has only recently returned to her profession now that the kids are old enough. They are all healthy and she couldn’t be happier.”
“Now that I am a free man, I have a lot of time to spend with my number one priority, my family and secondly, giving back to this incredible game.”
Jacobs said that in the future he foresaw hosting cricket clinics, engaging in cricket commentary and possibly reviewing his book that he hopes to publish one day, which he used as an escape at times when his injuries and “struggles with surgeries” got to him.
“Cricket is my passion, it is what I love and I will always be involved with the game.” — mbalit@dispatch.co.za
l This Out of the Vault series is an opportunity for readers to request us to follow up on stories that have appeared in the Daily Dispatch over the years. If there is something we have covered that was of great interest to you and you believe we could follow it up, please e-mail us on juliab@dispatch.co.za or ziphon@dispatch.co.za or call Zipho or Julia on 043-702-2000.
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