Premier Cricket: Daniel Sartori puts pen to paper with Footscray

Experienced batsman Daniel Sartori will extend his Premier Cricket career for at least one more season after putting pen to paper with Footscray.

Daniel Sartori on his way to a century in last season’s elimination final. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Experienced batsman Daniel Sartori will extend his Premier Cricket career for at least one more season after putting pen to paper with Footscray.

The 31-year-old spent 13 summers at Monash Tigers, holding the captaincy for the past two campaigns.

WISE THE NEW TOP DOG AT FOOTSCRAY

YARRAVILLE CLUB MAKES MASSIVE SIGNING

Sartori made 195 First XI appearances for the Tigers and hit 5010 runs, including five tons and 27 half-centuries.

He announced his retirement from Premier Cricket last month before deciding to reunite with good friend and ex-Monash captain-coach Allan Wise, who has taken over the top job at the Dogs.

Sartori, who lives in Altona, had originally intended to join Wise at VTCA club Spotswood before the latter called time on his playing career to move into coaching.

New Footscray Cricket Club coach Allan Wise at Merv Hughes Oval. Picture: Hamish Blair

While Footscray finished 16th last season, its most recent flag came in 2013-14.

Sartori will join a batting line-up flush with talent, including skipper Dylan Kight, Dean Russ, Travis Dean and emerging talents Jordan Kight, Dylan Brasher and Ash Armstrong.

“Obviously ‘Wisey’ was a big attraction and reason for my decision,” Sartori said.

“But you look at their list, there’s some pretty good talent there, especially with the bat.

“Hopefully I can play a role and fit into the top order somewhere.

“They’ve probably got as good a top order as is going around in Premier Cricket I’d say.”

The Dogs used several players at the top of the order last season and Sartori is a proven performer against the new ball.

He will also add valuable leadership and is a potential person for Kight to lean on.

Sartori has logged over 550 runs in his past four seasons and compiled 671 at 37.28 in 2018-19.

After a frustrating run, the right-hander blasted a sublime 124 against St Kilda in the elimination final to show he is still a quality performer in the state’s pre-eminent competition.

“I guess that was a little bit of a reminder to myself that I can still perform,” Sartori said.

“I had an OK year last year. Probably leading into the last couple of games, I was a little bit disappointed.

“I got a lot of starts without getting big scores, but certainly that innings against St Kilda gives me a bit of confidence going forward that when I’m at my best I’m still capable of making big scores.

“I’m certainly going there looking to do well. I’ve got confidence in myself that hopefully that will happen.”