Few cricketers have had their careers transformed in such a short period of time quite like Tim Paine's, but amid all the change has remained one constant.

A golf ball, a wall and his wicketkeeping gloves.

Don Bradman famously fine-tuned his hand-eye coordination by holding a stump and hitting a tiny white ball against a water tank.

While Paine's method for self-improvement is not as technically challenging as Bradman's childhood refrain, he singles out the hours spent out the back of Hobart's Blundstone Arena underarming a golf ball against the back of a grandstand as the key to his immaculate glovework.

Part meditation, part training drill, it allows just the fourth wicketkeeper to captain Australia’s Test team to tune out the distractions and focus on the most important part of his craft.

"I do a lot of work at home by myself with a golf ball and I just find that that's been the best way for me to prepare," Paine explained in Abu Dhabi ahead of the second Test against Pakistan.

"I watched Ian Healy years ago doing it so I do that. I can do it up standing up, I can do it standing back.

"The beauty of it is I can catch 10 times as many balls as if I had someone hitting me balls. A lot of the time at Bellerive (Oval), I just go up the back of the grandstand by myself for an hour or two just banging the golf ball up against the wall.

"It's pretty boring but in some weird way I really enjoy it. I find it relaxes me as well and allows me to go into a Test knowing I'm in a good place.

"It's a good way to just make sure that I'm getting myself in good positions. I've wicket-kept a lot over the years so I know if my body and head are in a good position, I'll catch more than I drop."

It was Paine's dogged final-day batting effort that made headlines after the first Test in Dubai and his composure at the batting crease since his return to the Test side last summer is reflected in his numbers; in 16 innings since his comeback, he averages 47.50 with the bat and has only been dismissed for single digits twice.

His reliable glovework, which saw him take three catches up to the stumps (and one standing back) through nearly two days in the field in the series-opener, might not have received the same accolades but it has provided a stability to a Test side needing just that.

Paine's steady hands have been a blessing following the instability at the wicketkeeping position since Brad Haddin's exit during the 2015 Ashes.

Fittingly, it's now Haddin – Australia's fielding coach – who Paine spends more time training with than anyone. In addition to the gruelling fitness and net sessions Justin Langer put the Test squad through in scorching UAE heat ahead of the Pakistan series, the two keepers were inseparable as Paine spent a mountain of extra time on his glovework with his mentor.

As he juggles keeping and batting responsibilities, the 33-year-old is also navigating his way through the pressures of leading a team missing its two best batsmen and two of its best bowlers, not to mention the increased scrutiny over the team's conduct.

While he admits he initially found it difficult to balance the competing demands of his roles during the one-day series in the United Kingdom earlier this year, Paine says he’s a found a balance.

"I've captained sides in Tasmania since I was probably 25, 26 so I've done it before," he said. "I think in England (in the recent one-day series), one thing I learned was I probably trained too hard and tried too hard.

"I was getting into games quite mentally worn out.

"I was using quite a lot of energy even when I wasn't at the cricket. It's just being able to relax a little bit more and not train as hard."