Daniel Sartori reflects on his 17 Premier Cricket seasons and 250 matches

Playing his 250th First XI match, Daniel Sartori reflects on the battles and friendships that keep him fronting up as one of the competition’s best.

The challenge of playing with and against the best cricketers in Victoria keeps milestone man Daniel Sartori young.

In his 17th season of Premier Cricket, the Footscray opener celebrates his 250th First XI match this round, “perfectly” he says, against former club Richmond.

Battles against the likes of Test stars James Pattinson and Peter Siddle and long-time friend Michael Hill and the chance to line-up alongside the likes of Mitch Perry, Travis Dean and Dean Russ have kept the fire burning.

“It takes a lot of support from family, especially my wife, so a big thank you to her for supporting me through it and continuing to play,” Sartori said.

“For the first half of my career, to be fair, I was up and down and never really cemented a spot in the Ones but for the last 10 years it’s been a great challenge.

Footscray opening pair Dylan Brasher and Daniel Sartori. Picture: Andy Brownbill

“The days you come against, when the Victorian boys are back – we’re playing Mitch Perry this week – they’re the challenges I still enjoy and why you play at the top level.

“We played against Essendon a couple of weeks ago, and Michael (Hill), I grew up playing with, we played together in the Victoria under-13s.

“We’ve come through and played with and against each other all the way through from under-13s to now at 34 or 35.

“When I played against Footscray I enjoyed playing against Russy … we caught up yesterday and he managed to bring up that he got me out one day and I managed to tell him I made a hundred against him, so I think we’ll call that square.”

Sartori is the sixth-longest serving and seventh-highest run-scorer in Premier Cricket among active players.

Since making his First XI debut in 2006, the opener has amassed 6844 runs, scored 10 First XI centuries and 35 fifties and taken 136 catches.

And there’s no sign of slowing down, his 2022-23 season has produced 440 runs – ranked 12th – at an average of 62, with two hundreds, in 11 matches.

An opening partnership with young gun Dylan Brasher is proving productive for both players and club.

Daniel Sartori in action for Footscray.

Daniel Sartori during his Monash Tigers days. Picture: Valeriu Campan

“We have formed a good friendship there, I guess him being a young opening batter when I moved to the club we did a lot of work together,” Sartori said.

“The friendship has grown for there, he’s a very good young player and I’m excited to see what he can do in the future.”

Now facing Richmond in his milestone game, Sartori said he had nothing but love for the Tigers having made his senior debut in December 2006.

He made 193 senior appearances and knocked up more than 5000 runs for the Tigers before family commitments saw him shift to Footscray in 2019.

A cold earlier in the season ensured the perfect milestone match-up.

Richmond was dismissed for 162 at Merv Hughes Oval and Sartori (12) and Brasher (two) reached stumps unscathed at 0-14.

“I’ve got a lot of love for the Tigers, obviously I played most of my career there, close to 200 games,” he said.

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“I’ve got a lot of great mates there and a lot of great memories, I can’t speak highly enough of the club.

“I missed a game earlier in the year, I was a bit crook, so I thought my 250th was going to be against Carlton but it’s worked out perfectly.

“We had a good day on Saturday, we were able to bowl the Tigers out for 160, and then had a tough little period to get through, which Brash and I managed to do, and I’m looking forward to getting a few runs on Saturday.”

With a few more runs this season Sartori can join Hill in the 7000-run club.