South African one-day international player Andrew Hall has been freed to join Easterns this summer following a decision by the Gauteng Cricket Board this week to release him from his contract.

Hall, who has been at loggerheads with Gauteng during the off-season, even threatening at one point to take legal action to secure his release, has 18 ODI caps although he is not currently under contract to the United Cricket Board.

His desire to Gauteng stems from unhappiness with the state of affairs at the Wanderers during the past few years coupled with a desire to once again link up with Ray Jennings who mentored him during the early part of his career.

Hall began life as a medium-pacer able to bat down the order, but his all-round play developed to the point where he opened the batting for the South African ODI side during 2000, at one stage taking on Australia's Brett Lee with every indication of relish.

Given the unpleasantness characterising the run-in to the UCB's annual meeting on Saturday, it will come as something of a relief to all concerned that the tug-of-war between Gauteng and Easterns for Hall's services has been resolved without recourse to court action.

UCB chief executive Gerald Majola said as much on Wednesday: "Gauteng have acted with maturity and with cricket's interests at heart. It is a pleasure to see an issue resolved with the player and the game of cricket in mind."

Unsurprisingly, Jennings was effusive about the acquisition of Hall.

"He's not always been fully valued as a player," said Jennings. "Having him come to us is obviously a huge boost. What we're going to do is get him back to where he's a national player again. He'll be good for Easterns and with a bid of luck and some hard work, he'll be good for South Africa again."

Never one to take the orthodox approach, Jennings intends to work with Hall on his wicketkeeping.

"He's got some talent as a 'keeper. I'd like to see him as Dylan's (Dylan Jennings, Ray's son the Easterns wicketeeper) number two. It would give him another string to his bow and give him something else to offer as a player."

© CricInfo