Andy Flower arrived in Adelaide on Tuesday hugely heartened and relieved that the surgery to remove a melanoma on his face has been successful.

The England coach had to miss two days of England's high-scoring first-Test draw in Brisbane to have a potentially cancerous mole taken off his upper right cheek, under local anaesthetic.

"I just got a little bit of a surprise with the results of that little biopsy," he said, having taken England security expert Reg Dickason's advice to have the suspect mole examined - despite previous medical assurances it was not malevolent. "Then they had to whip some of that stuff away. I got some good results yesterday, so there are no issues in the immediate future."

The 42-year-old returned to the camp after his operation see England fight back outstandingly, after conceding a 221-run first-innings lead to Australia at the Gabba.

They eventually piled up an astonishing 517 for one declared, on the back of Alastair Cook's maiden double-century and three-figure scores too from Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott.

It was only the second time in England's history the top three in the order have made hundreds, and against all expectation it was Australia who ended up having to bat out the match to secure a stalemate on what had become a batsman's paradise.

"Watching Cook and Trott build that partnership was particularly special," added Flower. "The way we fought back in the game was outstanding.

"With a 220 deficit, that's a very dangerous situation.

"I thought the team, and especially those batsmen, showed particularly strong character in fighting their way out of it.

"It's very good to come away from that situation with a draw, and to have the opportunity of applying a little bit of pressure at the end."