Dickie Bird's statue is standing tall in town again after its plinth was raised to deter folk from hanging mementoes on its outstretched finger.
The 80-year-old officially unveiled his life-sized bronze in its new elevated position next to St Mary's Garden on Sunday, a week after it had been removed.
When the statue disappeared last week, unannounced, it caused concern amid fears it had been stolen.
As part of a media stunt, Dickie and the statue's sculptor Graham Ibbeson fuelled the mystery by pretending to know nothing about it. But within 24 hours Graham had to reveal it was safe in storage after police were informed it was missing.
As the statue was lowered into place last Friday morning, ahead of its official unveiling, Dickie watched on nervously.
"This is it now, this is it," he shouted. When it was finally in place, the cricketing legend said: "It's been a bit of a funny week and I feel much better now it's on. I think it looks a lot better higher up, it's as it should have been."
The work to the plinth, raised to 1.5 metres, was carried out after people took to leaving mementoes, including underwear and condoms, dangling off Dickie's finger as they passed by after a night out.
Sculptor Graham hopes that will be a trend of the past as his finger now stands at almost three metres, making it much harder for people to reach. He also said at its previous height, the statue looked to be 'flagging' passing traffic.
