Port Adelaide midfielder Hamish Hartlett has joined cricket’s Strike Force, in support of South Australia’s team in the new-look T20 Big Bash League.

Hartlett has signed on as an ambassador for the Adelaide Strikers, alongside athletes including fellow AFL footballer Bernie Vince, Thunderbirds netballer Erin Bell and champion cyclist Patrick Yonker.

“I reckon the Strikers will go alright and hopefully big Kieron Pollard hits a few big bombs and can get us over the line again like last year,” Hartlett said.

No stranger to the summer sport, Hartlett was a talented school-age batsman/wicket-keeper. He represented South Australia at under-13 and under-15 level when he was also named in the Australian XI, before deciding to follow his football dream.

“Certainly football was always my preference and I used to love playing footy and always thought I was better at playing footy so in the end that’s the direction I went and I’m happy I went that way,” Hartlett explained.

Hartlett was quick to become part of the Strike Force and was introduced to opening batsman Aiden Blizzard, himself an all-round sportsman and state-level footballer at under-15 level while growing up in country Victoria.

Hartlett isn’t the only accomplished cricketer in the Power line-up, with Travis Boak another to have played representative games at junior level.

“Boaky is a bit of an all-rounder … Troy Chaplin is not a bad cricketer and I think Johnny Butcher and Matty Lobbe go alright as well, so there’s a few good ones at the club and I think you’ll find that’s the case at a lot of footy clubs as well,” Hartlett said.

After making their own mark on Adelaide Oval in Round 24 during the first AFL match at the famous ground, many of the Power boys will return over the coming weeks to see the Strikers hit out in the Big Bash League, beginning with the match against the Melbourne Renegades on Sunday 18 December.