England opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of comments from skipper Ben Stokes about the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
Stokes delivered this message in several interviews in the wake of his team's defeat in the second Ashes versus the Australians earlier this month.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at a series loss at the earliest opportunity, Stokes stated he had allowed his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I've done all the talking in recent days that I required," said the England leader.
But, following the opener scored 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he commented: "I missed those remarks."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
Stokes made the "weak men" observation subsequent to England suffered a loss in Brisbane to fall 2-0 down.
The team subsequently took a break to Noosa between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Prior to this match, he revealed his team had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay alive in the series.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman stated the messaging from the captain and coach McCullum had remained consistent with their prior three years in charge.
"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," noted the opener. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat entering this Test."
Australia Close of Rapid Series Victory
Crawley's wicket late on Saturday came during a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England 207-6 chasing a notional target of 435.
Consequently, Australia require four wickets on the last day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 lead after three matches played.
A loss would prolong England's drought in this country to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes series defeat.
The current battle is set to be decided in only 11 days of play – with England losing the initial matches in rapid time each.
Not since 1921, when the Australians sealed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been determined so quickly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"It's disappointing," said the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination now."
"There remains plenty to play for and we'll definitely view it like that," he continued.
"It's been tough. They're a very, very good team. It was inevitably hard touring here to face them. They entered as the favourites coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While the opener's performance in the third Test probably answers doubts about his short-term future in the England team, Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
Pope was out for 17 in England's second innings on Saturday, adding to his modest returns versus the old enemy.
In 16 Ashes innings, Pope has failed to score a half-century and boasts an average of just 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and recorded a poorer average.
However, the opener insisted any notion Pope is under the microscope comes from "you guys" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"We all know how good of a player he is," said he. "He has had a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has played several excellent innings. This is talk externally. There is no chat like that on Ollie in the camp," he finished.
