16,340 squats no concern for Carey amid hectic schedule

Alex Carey believes he is ready to combat Australia's hectic schedule, confident concentration won't be an issue as he keeps wicket to more than 16,000 balls in the space of a year.

Carey will enter Sunday's second Test against South Africa after being near faultless with the gloves in Durban, headlined by a crucial diving catch on day five.

Australia's are now three Tests into a run of up to 20 over a 12-month period, beginning with their drawn series against Bangladesh and culminating in next year's Ashes.

Much of the talk of that run has centred on Australia's bowlers and whether they can play each Test, but Carey's workload is worth noting as well.

Based on the average length of Australia's Tests over the past five years, Carey squatted down for and kept to no less than 16,340 balls in Tests during that period.

That figure doesn't take into account the glovework the South Australian does at training, in warm-ups or other forms of cricket, like ODIs or the Sheffield Shield.

"I know we talk about the number of games, but there are gaps between most series," Carey said.

"I don't see it is as an issue. I feel like, in terms of experience and stuff outside of cricket, there is a good balance there.

"And just continue to train the way I play and play each game as it comes and see how that goes."

Carey is not one to switch off too much between balls, but said he rarely encountered concentration being too much of an issue.

"I don't engage too much with the slips a lot. When I am out there, I like to stay pretty focused and go through my processes," he said.

"That's the way I do it. There is probably a slight little shift as the bowler is running in to catch it, that split second to reset.

"I probably just look to make sure my process each ball is where I want it to be."

By the time the Ashes ends next year just shy of his 36th birthday, Carey will already be Australia's fifth oldest wicketkeeper of the past 60 years.