Seagull lives to fly another day

The rise and rise of Australia’s most famous seagull looks to have elevated to an even higher altitude today following news of the bird’s successful recovery after being hit by a cricket ball during last night’s KFC T20 Big Bash League clash between the Melbourne Stars and Perth Scorchers at the MCG.

Loitering in the outfield mid-way through the 17th over of the Scorchers’ innings, the seagull was unable to evade a firmly-struck pull shot from Perth captain Adam Voges, the resulting blow rendering the bird motionless on the MCG turf.

A concerned Rob Quiney removed the bird from the playing arena, before, much to the delight of the 33,580-strong MCG crowd, it lifted itself back onto its own two feet.

The feathered friend even managed to dodge capture from security before being taken away.

With further news coming to hand today, it is our pleasure to report, in a bigbash.com.au exclusive, that the gull’s return to fitness was even more complete than first thought.

“The bird was taken outside into Yarra Park at the change of innings and released into the park when it was clear that the bird’s health was okay,” Melbourne Cricket Club Media and Publicity Advisor Sarah Gordon told bigbash.com.au after consulting with ground staff.

“A remarkable recovery!”

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The injured seagull was in full voice after the nasty blow // Network Ten

Things could have been much worse according to Melbourne Bird Veterinary Clinic avian vet Dr Colin Walker.

“You could be looking at just soft-tissue injury, it could be a fracture,” Dr Walker told bigbash.com.au when asked what kind of injuries the bird was likely to have sustained.

“You could be looking at some internal injury (as well).”

“(But) birds are fairly tough. Most things are repairable.

“If it was soft-tissue or internal, the fact that it’s still alive, would carry a pretty good prognosis.”

Social media has exploded with congratulations and well wishes for the bird following the incident, with the match watched by upwards of 878,000 people across the country on Network Ten.

At least two Twitter accounts have been established purporting to be tweeting on behalf of the bird, and New Zealand Cricket's official Twitter account also lent their support to the inspirational 'gull.

Some punters have even credited the ornithological intruder for the Stars’ dramatic revival and victory.

“For all money it looked dead,” Melbourne Stars President Eddie McGuire said on Triple M's The Hot Breakfast this morning.

“Quiney went over and picked the bird up and put it on the other side of the rope.

“To be honest the bird looked as dead as the Stars were at that stage.

“About ten minutes later the bird stood up, and the crowd went nuts.

“We looked at that and saw it as a sign, and so did the Stars.”

Man of the match Peter Handscomb also made mention of the seagull the morning after his unbeaten 103 off 64 balls cemented third spot on the BBL|04 ladder for the Stars.

“Yeah poor bird, just wrong place wrong time,” Handscomb said.

“He didn’t look great, one wing was flapping around there, legs up in the air, he wandered around and the crowd got behind him, good little bird.

“It just looked a little bit stunned, Bobby did the right thing, and got it off the ground and it miraculously came to.

“Much like our win last night.”