diff --git a/java/sketches/src/main/java/sleeper/sketches/Sketches.java b/java/sketches/src/main/java/sleeper/sketches/Sketches.java
index 0b65286fd9..e8008b5d48 100644
--- a/java/sketches/src/main/java/sleeper/sketches/Sketches.java
+++ b/java/sketches/src/main/java/sleeper/sketches/Sketches.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import sleeper.core.schema.Field;
 import sleeper.core.schema.Schema;
 import sleeper.core.schema.type.ByteArrayType;
+import sleeper.core.schema.type.IntType;
 import sleeper.core.schema.type.PrimitiveType;
 import sleeper.core.schema.type.Type;
 
@@ -50,19 +51,11 @@ public static Sketches from(Schema schema) {
     }
 
     public static <T> ItemsSketch<T> createSketch(Type type, int k) {
-        if (type instanceof PrimitiveType) {
-            return (ItemsSketch<T>) ItemsSketch.getInstance(k, Comparator.naturalOrder());
-        } else {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown key type of " + type);
-        }
+        return (ItemsSketch<T>) ItemsSketch.getInstance(k, createComparator(type));
     }
 
     public static <T> ItemsUnion<T> createUnion(Type type, int maxK) {
-        if (type instanceof PrimitiveType) {
-            return (ItemsUnion<T>) ItemsUnion.getInstance(maxK, Comparator.naturalOrder());
-        } else {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown key type of " + type);
-        }
+        return (ItemsUnion<T>) ItemsUnion.getInstance(maxK, createComparator(type));
     }
 
     public static <T> Comparator<T> createComparator(Type type) {
@@ -95,6 +88,8 @@ public static void update(ItemsSketch sketch, Record record, Field field) {
     public static Object readValueFromSketchWithWrappedBytes(Object value, Field field) {
         if (value == null) {
             return null;
+        } else if (field.getType() instanceof IntType) {
+            return ((Long) value).intValue();
         } else {
             return value;
         }
@@ -104,6 +99,8 @@ private static Object convertValueForSketch(Record record, Field field) {
         Object value = record.get(field.getName());
         if (value == null) {
             return null;
+        } else if (field.getType() instanceof IntType) {
+            return ((Integer) value).longValue();
         } else if (field.getType() instanceof ByteArrayType) {
             return ByteArray.wrap((byte[]) value);
         } else {
diff --git a/java/sketches/src/main/java/sleeper/sketches/SketchesSerDe.java b/java/sketches/src/main/java/sleeper/sketches/SketchesSerDe.java
index 927c4f2a6e..5d5aa6a354 100644
--- a/java/sketches/src/main/java/sleeper/sketches/SketchesSerDe.java
+++ b/java/sketches/src/main/java/sleeper/sketches/SketchesSerDe.java
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 
 import com.facebook.collections.ByteArray;
 import org.apache.datasketches.ArrayOfItemsSerDe;
-import org.apache.datasketches.ArrayOfNumbersSerDe;
+import org.apache.datasketches.ArrayOfLongsSerDe;
 import org.apache.datasketches.ArrayOfStringsSerDe;
 import org.apache.datasketches.Util;
 import org.apache.datasketches.memory.Memory;
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@
 import java.io.DataInputStream;
 import java.io.DataOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.Comparator;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -49,8 +48,8 @@ public SketchesSerDe(Schema schema) {
     public void serialise(Sketches sketches, DataOutputStream dos) throws IOException {
         for (Field field : schema.getRowKeyFields()) {
             if (field.getType() instanceof IntType || field.getType() instanceof LongType) {
-                ItemsSketch<Number> sketch = sketches.getQuantilesSketch(field.getName());
-                byte[] b = sketch.toByteArray(new ArrayOfNumbersSerDe());
+                ItemsSketch<Long> sketch = sketches.getQuantilesSketch(field.getName());
+                byte[] b = sketch.toByteArray(new ArrayOfLongsSerDe());
                 dos.writeInt(b.length);
                 dos.write(b);
             } else if (field.getType() instanceof StringType) {
@@ -81,16 +80,18 @@ private static ItemsSketch<?> deserialise(DataInputStream dis, Type type) throws
         int length = dis.readInt();
         byte[] b = new byte[length];
         dis.readFully(b);
-        if (type instanceof IntType) {
-            return ItemsSketch.getInstance(Memory.wrap(b), Comparator.comparing(Number::intValue), new ArrayOfNumbersSerDe());
-        } else if (type instanceof LongType) {
-            return ItemsSketch.getInstance(Memory.wrap(b), Comparator.comparing(Number::longValue), new ArrayOfNumbersSerDe());
+        return ItemsSketch.getInstance(Memory.wrap(b), Sketches.createComparator(type), getItemsSerDe(type));
+    }
+
+    private static <T> ArrayOfItemsSerDe<T> getItemsSerDe(Type type) {
+        if (type instanceof IntType || type instanceof LongType) {
+            return (ArrayOfItemsSerDe<T>) new ArrayOfLongsSerDe();
         } else if (type instanceof StringType) {
-            return ItemsSketch.getInstance(Memory.wrap(b), Comparator.naturalOrder(), new ArrayOfStringsSerDe());
+            return (ArrayOfItemsSerDe<T>) new ArrayOfStringsSerDe();
         } else if (type instanceof ByteArrayType) {
-            return ItemsSketch.getInstance(Memory.wrap(b), Comparator.naturalOrder(), new ArrayOfByteArraysSerSe());
+            return (ArrayOfItemsSerDe<T>) new ArrayOfByteArraysSerSe();
         } else {
-            throw new IOException("Unknown key type of " + type);
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown key type of " + type);
         }
     }