Flower thrilled with Brisbane recovery

Team director Andy Flower was delighted he was able to watch England’s batting heroics on the last two days of the drawn Ashes opener at the Gabba.
Flower missed the second and third days of the match in Brisbane after successfully undergoing surgery to remove a melanoma on his face.
However, the 42-year-old was able to return to the Gabba to see Alastair Cook’s maiden first-class double century plus hundreds from fellow opener Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott.
Those tons enabled the tourists to declare on a mammoth 517 for one yesterday, having begun their second innings in a perilous position, and force Australia to play for the draw.

“Watching Cook and Trott build that partnership was particularly special,” Flower said of the second-wicket pair, who combined for a Gabba Test record 329-run alliance.

“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.”
Flower, who arrived in Adelaide today with the rest of the England squad ahead of this week’s second Test there, had the potentially cancerous mole taken off his upper right cheek under local anaesthetic.
The former Zimbabwe wicketkeeper-batsman was relieved last Friday’s surgery has removed all the dangerous tissue and he therefore has no more health issues to worry about.
“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.”