MELBOURNE - Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden has said that current opener Phillip Hughes needs to temper his attacking instincts to adapt to tricky English conditions.

Hayden, the retired 103-Test batsman whose retirement paved the way for 20-year-old Hughes to make his debut last summer, has strongly backed the young opener to score heavily in the remainder of the series.

Speaking to the Herald Sun from India, where he is on a business trip, Hayden said Hughes should be wary of the need to adjust his game to the vastly different conditions in England.

‘”You have got to play the conditions more so than the bowlers in England. Sometimes the conditions are not conducive to really aggressive play and that was always the challenge that I had to face, trying to temper my natural attacking instincts,” Hayden warned.

“The conditions aren’t always available to score in the way that you want to score, you learn that over time and it is very important to learn to adapt. As an opening batsman, there are a lot of times where you don’t know what you will find in England.

With the new ball there can be really sharp extra bounce or sideways movement, or it can start swinging a lot. You need to make decisions on the run, and adapt to things straight away, that is the challenge of English conditions,” he added.

Hayden struggled desperately in the 2005 Ashes series before conjuring a career-saving Test century in the fifth Test at the Oval.

Hayden deliberately turned down the volume on his natural aggression from earlier in the series and shouldered arms to plenty of deliveries he would normally try to belt.

Despite increasing questions over Hughes’s ability to handle the short ball, Hayden claims the young left-hander will find a way to score big runs for the rest of Ashes.

“But from what I know of Phil Hughes, he is a really strong little character and comes from a really humble background. You can see from his body language how proud he is to play for Australia. I am sure with all the great qualities he has, that a big score is just around the corner,” said Hayden. (ANI)