Profile – JJ Basson (Noordheuwel)
“Grandpa would have been proud.”
The Basson family was overjoyed with JJ Basson’s selection by the Paarl Royals as one of their three u23 players for season four of the SA20. However, the family also felt that none of them would have been as thrilled as the man JJ Basson was named after.
Jacob Johannes Basson was the first cricketer in the Basson family. He had enough talent to trouble club cricketers with his right-arm off-spin, but his talent never took him beyond turning out for his club, Oostelikes.
When it became apparent that his grandson’s talent superseded his own, the older Basson helped him to cultivate it. It soon became apparent that the younger JJ’s cricket gifts were greater than all of his predecessors combined.
“He bought JJ his first bat, a Kookaburra bat, when he was a little boy,” Deon Basson, JJ’s father, told SuperSport Schools Plus.
“He, also, never missed a match JJ played. He showed up for everything. When JJ was selected for his first u11 tournament, which was played in White River, my dad just asked for the details and made the trip from Pretoria.”
That tournament was the first time JJ Basson’s world of cricket truly extended beyond his school, Krugersdorp North Primary. Like every youngster, his began his journey with dreams of becoming a batsman, and a century for the school’s first team helped to encourage those ambitions.
However, everyone who watched him at that tournament in White River left certain that they had watched a talented left-arm seamer.
It didn’t take long for more people to recognise his talent. When Gauteng West and Joburg North met at u13 level in a regional tournament, JJ almost singlehandedly won that encounter for his team.
Joburg North scuttled Gauteng West for a measly 110 after electing to bowl first and it looked as if they would cruise to victory when they got into a rhythm and reached 76/1, needing only 35 more runs to win. JJ, though, shattered their hopes of victory with a blistering second spell that saw him capture five wickets for 11 runs. Gauteng West won.
That performance was a sneak peek into the future. Later that year, Basson helped his side clinch the title in the Gauteng Cup. The winner’s medal found a place beside his 2021 Lenasia Premier League (LPL) u13 winners’ medal for the Celestial Knights. That was only the beginning.
Recalling the teenager’s early years, Rudi Erasmus, one of JJ’s coaches at Hoërskool Noordheuwel, said: “We really just focused on the basics of bowling, making sure every step was smooth, efficient, and strong. The rest was up to him, testing his limits and finding his own technique and rhythm through time and effort.”
In 2022, when JJ was 14, an improved action helped him play a leading role in the Black Widow Junior side’s victory in the Big Bom Lenasia T20. He also featured in the Diadora Jozi Cup u15 team that finished in second place at the annual winter tournament. That title didn’t elude him for long, however. The following year, he clinched it with the u16 side.
The accolades have kept rolling in. Besides 2024, when he was sidelined by injury, there hasn’t been a year when the left-armer hasn’t been part of Gauteng’s age group teams at national events.
Batsmen breathed easier when JJ Basson wasn’t bowling. His towering height and the left-arm angle made life difficult for them. However, with JJ, it isn’t just about height and being a southpaw.
“One of his greatest skills is his ability to bring the ball back into right-handers. He also has a good bouncer and has good variations in his armoury. What makes him dangerous is how quickly his wrists can snap to provide him extra pace,” Ahmed Nawab, the Gauteng Lions’ u19 coach, shared.
Nawab’s description of JJ is a glove that fits Mitchell Starc. That comes as no surprise because, before he found his own path, JJ copied the Australian star’s action. He did it for so long that his skillset makes it appear as if they came off the same production line. JJ was so enamoured by the Australian that he also wears the number 56 shirt. He couldn’t have chosen a better role model.
Among modern left-arm pacers, only New Zealand’s Trent Boult can keep company with the Aussie quick as an exponent of new-ball bowling, although Starc holds the edge. Earlier this year, the Aussie put his genius with the new ball on display when he recorded the fastest five-wicket haul against the West Indies in Test cricket history. It came in only 15 balls. Like Starc, JJ is a new-ball hitman.
“We worked on that a lot. The focus was on getting him to land the new ball in the right areas,” Donald Dinake, JJ’s coach at Noordheuwel, said.
In 2007, social scientist Angela Dweck published her seminal book, Mindset, which discussed fixed and growth mindsets. According to Dweck, people with a fixed mindset are bent on proving themselves to be outstanding or good over and over again, but they’re afraid of failure. Those with a growth mindset, on the other hand, are unafraid of failure because they believe that hurdles help them to develop their abilities.
When Dinake speaks of JJ, it sounds like he took a passage from Dweck’s publication and used it to talk of the teenager. He uses words like coachable, good listener, inquisitive, and sponge. JJ handles negative feedback with a maturity that is way beyond his young age, Dinake said.
““I always remind him that feedback is never personal. I say to him, the bowling is not you. It’s a skill that you have and need to improve and develop. So, when a coach gives you negative feedback, it’s not them criticising you, but rather, they are trying to help your skill,” his father, Deon, said.
As far as JJ is concerned, feedback is a ladder. One can use it to climb a few rungs or to go all the way to the top.
The Noordheuwel grade 11 learner has big dreams. When he was younger, he didn’t set his sights on playing for the biggest club in his area. He targeted representing the Lions. At 15, his ambition changed to representing his country.
The teenager doesn’t just listen. He treasures the feedback, taking it on board and then putting it to the test through hour upon hour of bowling innumerable deliveries to upskill himself. That’s how he became the South Africa u19 side’s premier strike bowler at the age of 17. Now, he is so good that Malibongwe Maketa, the SA u19 coach, expects him to deliver early wickets, which he does. However, JJ Basson is not solely a new ball specialist.
“His control has come a long way. He has now developed wonderful consistency, which makes him not just useful in the middle overs and at the death, but also a proper wicket-taker in those periods,” Nawab explained.
JJ has made many sacrifices to earn such high praise from everyone around him. Those sacrifices include forgoing some things his peers enjoy, like late nights. His father, Deon, said JJ understands the value that good sleep provides his development, and he is dedicated to his schedule and dietary requirements.
“Nothing explains his dedication better than the work he put in when he was injured. JJ showed great resilience during that time. He would wake up at 04:30, do gym work, go to school, and then come to the Wanderers for physiotherapy appointments and net sessions,” Nawab recalled.
His mother, Nicolene, ensured that he was where he needed to be, on time. When the Joburg Super Kings conducted trials ahead of the SA20 auction, she got him to the Wanderers on time, despite JJ being under the weather. He had been unable to do much because of a severe cold the previous week. However, he showed up at the trials and pushed himself to perform as if he were 100 percent fit.
“He had no discomfort. He was determined to learn as much as he could from Allan Donald and Eric Simons,” Nawab said. “That’s what you can expect from JJ, though. He is the kind of person you would want beside you in a battle because of his commitment.”
Given an opportunity to impress, JJ Basson grabbed it, and he enjoyed himself. His grandfather and namesake would have been proud.
He would have been even prouder to learn that his 17-year-old grandson had been picked by the Paarl Royals as one of their three u23 players at the mega auction.
Jacob Johannes Basson, the elder, would have been proud that his grandson has also grown into an outstanding young man.
