 Born in Acocks Green, Birmingham, Santall was a regular on the Warwickshire teamsheet during the inter-war period.Between 1919 and 1939 he played 496 first-class matches for his home county, only Willie Quaife and Dennis Amiss have represented Warwickshire more often.Outside of county cricket he made four other first-class appearances, three came on Sir Theodore Brinckman's XI tour of Argentina in 1937–38 and one was for Sir Lindsay Parkinson's XI against the West Indies tourists of 1933, he scored 45 and 47 not out in a low-scoring match.