The English opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by captain Stokes regarding the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
Stokes delivered this message in multiple interviews following his team's loss in the second Ashes series versus the Australians previously.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where England are staring at a series loss at the earliest opportunity, the captain noted he had let his message to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I've done all the talking in recent days that I needed to have done," remarked Stokes.
However, following Crawley made 85 on the fourth day in the third Test, he stated: "I missed those remarks."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. We take anything stated in the media with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "weak men" observation after England suffered a loss in the second Test to fall two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards went on a break to Noosa between the second and third Tests.
Prior to this match, he said his team had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to stay in contention in the Ashes battle.
Yet, Crawley asserted the guidance from the captain and head coach McCullum had remained consistent with their prior tenure in charge.
"It's been very positive, the same as always," noted the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with great liberty. We believed we could do something special going into this game."
The Hosts Close of Historic Series Victory
Crawley's dismissal on day four was part of a crucial triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side 207-6 chasing a daunting target of 435 runs.
This means, Australia require just four more wickets on the last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage after three matches played.
A loss will extend the English team's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth straight overseas Ashes loss.
The current battle will be completed in just 11 days of cricket – after England losing the first two Tests in rapid time respectively.
The last time 1921, when the Australians sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been determined more swiftly. The hosts have also triumphed in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.
"This is disappointing," admitted Crawley. "We came here to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it with that mindset," Crawley added.
"It's been tough. They're a formidable team. It was always going to be hard touring here to face them. They were the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's performance in Adelaide probably answers doubts about his short-term future in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 runs in the team's second innings on Saturday, adding to his poor record versus Australia.
Across 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has failed to score a half-century and boasts an average of 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has featured as many times in the top six in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average.
However, the opener said any suggestion his teammate is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – referring to the journalists – "and not within the team."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said he. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has played some really good knocks. This is noise from the outside. There's no discussion like that regarding Pope in the camp," Crawley concluded.
