England opener Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by skipper Ben Stokes about the dressing room as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
Stokes delivered this message in multiple interviews following England's defeat in the second match of the Ashes series versus the Australians previously.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England are staring at defeat with a match to spare, Stokes stated he had allowed his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the playing group.
"I have completed the necessary discussions in recent days that I needed to have done," said the England leader.
However, after Crawley made a knock of 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, he stated: "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 some skepticism," he added.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain issued his "weak men" comment after his side suffered a loss in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The England squad subsequently went on a holiday to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and third Tests.
Prior to this match, he said his players had held "raw" conversations and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain in contention in the Ashes battle.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman asserted the messaging from Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their prior three years in charge.
"It's been extremely upbeat, the same as always," said the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat entering this game."
Australia Close of Historic Series Victory
The opener's wicket late on Saturday was part of a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Harry Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a notional target of 435.
Consequently, Australia require just four more wickets on the last day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 advantage after three matches played.
Defeat will extend England's winless run in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive away Ashes series loss.
This series will be completed in only 11 days of play – with England fell the initial matches in rapid time respectively.
The last time 1921, when Australia completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been determined so quickly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other occasions in the modern era.
"It's disappointing," admitted Crawley. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we'll certainly approach it like that," Crawley added.
"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was always going to be hard touring here against them. They entered as the front-runners and they've proven why."
Ollie Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
While the opener's performance in Adelaide probably answers questions about his immediate place in the England team, Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope was out for 17 in the team's second knock on Saturday, extending his modest returns against Australia.
In 16 Ashes innings, Pope has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of just 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.
But, Crawley said any notion his teammate is under the microscope comes from "the media" – meaning the journalists – "and not within the team."
"We all know of his considerable talent," said Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has produced some really good knocks. This is noise from the outside. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie in the camp," he finished.
