James Anderson is on his way home to attend the birth of his second child - and will rejoin his England team-mates in Perth in time for next week's third Ashes Test.

England coach Andy Flower confirmed that Anderson flew from Adelaide on Tuesday night, just hours after helping England win the second Test there by an innings and 71 runs and therefore go 1-0 up with three matches to play against Australia.

Flower said: "He's going to be there for the birth of his child. We hope everything goes well, and he'll be back a few days before the Perth Test."

Anderson would almost certainly have been rested anyway for this week's three-day tour match against Victoria in Melbourne.

Explaining England's policy, Flower added: "We've got to try to balance what's important to our cricket team and also what's important to these guys in their personal lives.

"Their family lives, relationships and children obviously come above cricket. We've set a precedent in the past for making sure that people can be back home for the birth of a child if possible and if that's what they want.

"If that's not necessary in their particular circumstances then it would be great to have everyone here all the time. But he should be back and in working order for the third Test."

England, meanwhile, apparently toasted their opening victory quietly on Tuesday night - because, as Flower points out, much work remains to be done if the Ashes are to be won this winter.

"They were pretty muted, as far as I know," the coach said of his team's celebrations. "There's a long way to go in this series.

"We work hard for any victory, and to win a first-class game takes an enormous amount of effort and skill - and the same goes for Test matches, even more so. It's good for the guys to let their hair down, but they are focused on what's ahead. We know how serious the challenge is ahead of us."