Johannesburg, 15 September 2026
Johannesburg is the richest city in Africa and our DP World Lions are #ThePrideOfJozi so there should be no surprise that our cricket teams continue to unearth extraordinary talent.
But last weekend, left-arm paceman JJ Basson announced himself as something exceptional. The 18-year-old took 11 for 99 on debut for the DP World Lions, his amazing performance being the highlight of the drawn 1st-Class Series match against Boland.
On Friday, September 11, Basson opened the bowling on the second day of action at the DP World Wanderers Stadium as Boland replied to our first-innings total of 314. The Hoerskool Noordheuwel product took seven for 62, the best ever innings figures on first-class debut for the Johannesburg-based team, whether they were playing under the Transvaal, Gauteng or Lions banner.
In the second innings he took four for 37, all the wickets to fall, as Boland batted out the match on the final afternoon for the draw. That gave Basson his match figures of 11 for 99, which only one first-class debutant for the team has managed to better: the great Bruce Mitchell took 11 for 95 in his maiden first-class match. The man who would go on to be South Africa’s leading Test run-scorer with 3471 at 48.88 until Gary Kirsten surpassed him in 1999, was just 17 years old when he took five for 23 and six for 72 against Border in East London in 1926.
What was most impressive about Basson was his excellent control. Unlike many inexperienced bowlers at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, he was able to keep a fuller length, getting late swing, and two of his victims were bowled, two were lbw and six were caught behind the wicket.
“I felt nervous at the start, I won’t lie, and I didn’t have the start I wanted. But I brought it back nicely and felt more settled after lunch, I was able to run in and bowl with more freedom as the game went on,” Basson said after being named Man of the Match despite Ryan Rickelton’s outstanding contribution of 49 and 127 with the bat.
“My plan was quite simple – just hit the deck hard with energy whether it was a fuller length or not, and make the batsmen play. I didn’t want to chase wickets, just try and do my best for the team. Obviously there are some days when everything just goes according to plan, but I know days like these are not always going to happen.
“Since the U19 World Cup at the start of the year, I’ve grown as a person and as a player at the DP World Lions. Having a bowling coach like Allan Donald is great because he’s one of the best South Africa have produced, one of the world’s best. I just bounce ideas off him and ask if he’s seen something I’ve missed. He’s seen a lot of bowlers in his time and for him to praise me allows me to take confidence from that. I also learnt a lot from our Proteas, the way they see things and analyse the game,” Basson said.
Both of #ThePrideOfJozi’s current Proteas batsmen, Temba Bavuma and Rickelton, will go into the series against the Australians with confidence after performing well with the bat. Rickelton tallied 176 runs in the match while spending six-and-a-half hours at the crease, while Bavuma looked in prime touch as he spent four hours at the crease on the first day in scoring 91, and another 35 minutes in the second innings for 9.
One of the other debutants, Wilco de Bruin, will remember the match for his important innings of 54 and a seventh-wicket partnership of 92 with Wandile Makwetu on the final day.
Makwetu will be delighted with his 60 not out in five hours to start the season, having ended the previous four-day campaign strongly after coming through some tough times with the bat.
Mitchell van Buuren was the other batsman to do well, scoring 52 in the first innings.
Our DP World Lions will be travelling to Bloemfontein this week to take on the Free State Knights in the second round of the 1st-Class Series, starting on Thursday.