Australian Test wicketkeeper Alex Carey has will take a break from all cricketing duties following an extremely busy schedule.
Such a schedule saw Carey appear in six Shield appearances, five Test matches, five Marsh One-Day Cup fixtures and three Big Bash League games.
Add in three matches with his club Glenelg and the many training sessions that the South Australian took place in and it is no surprise that he has been left exhausted by the workload.
As a result, Carey decided to take a mini-break with his young family heading to a beachside retreat.
Speaking to cricket.com.au, Carey said that "There's no more games of cricket for me until we get to Pakistan."
"I'll just spend this week with the family, heading down south, staying away from everyone to minimise contact and then jump on the plane to Melbourne and then Pakistan."
Inevitably, as a result of not playing for a relatively large window of time, the question of whether or not Carey will be match-fit for the Australian tour of Pakistan on March 4 has been in the spotlight.
Despite taking a break, Carey declared that he'll still give himself the best preparation ahead of next month's series.
"I'll do some running and probably find time to have a catch and a hit throughout the next week, but a lot of it will be family time ahead of the next couple of months," Carey added.
"And just put my feet up – hopefully take my mind totally off cricket for five or six days."
On the flight down to Melbourne, Carey will be accompanied by fellow Redback Brendan Doggett who finds himself as a standby player following Mark Steketee's addition to the 18-man-squad.
He was added to the squad when his fellow Bulls teammate Michael Neser was ruled out with a side strain injury, with Australia set to take a more balanced bowling attack between their pace and spin stocks.
As a great sweeper of the ball, even Carey seems to be concerned about the tricky spinning conditions in Pakistan.
"Preparing for the most difficult scenario from our perspective would mean preparing for spin-friendly conditions," Carey said.
"If you prepare for that, but then come up against something different - if they're quick-friendly pitches that are a bit harder and bouncy – then we've all experienced more of those conditions here in Australia than the spinner-friendly ones.
"But we'll probably get a taste of all of those at some stage, and I have no expectations.
"It's more just the excitement to get over there and have a week or so lead-in to that first Test – catch balls, hit balls, face spinners, face quicks, face the reversing ball.
If the pitch does end up favouring spinners, Mitchell Swepson or Ashton Agar will likely line up alongside Nathan Lyon.
This will provide a test for Carey, who despite making 23 catches in the Ashes, was widely criticised for his performance.
Speaking on the topic, Carey said he is primed to continue to work behind the stumps with a group of spinners familiar to him.
"I went on an Australia A tour with Sweppo (Swepson) and have been at NPS (National Performance Squad) camps with Sweppo as well as playing some white-ball cricket with him in recent years," Carey said.
"But with the coming week's lead-up providing a chance to work with him, and then again when we first arrive in Pakistan, there will be a good opportunity to catch some balls, which is what I did with Nath (Lyon) throughout this summer.
"And it's the same with Ashton (Agar), so there's lots of great options for us but I guess it will be wait and see what we get over there.
"For me it's just continuing to build, and to keep having those close relationships with the spinners that is very important.
"It's going to be interesting, and exciting."
