England opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments made by captain Stokes about the team environment not being "weak men".
Stokes delivered this message in multiple conversations following his team's loss in the second Ashes against the Australians earlier this month.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England are staring at a series loss with a match to spare, the captain stated he had let his message to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I've done the necessary discussions in recent days that I needed to have done," remarked the England leader.
However, after Crawley scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain issued his "fragile individuals" comment subsequent to his side suffered a loss in the second Test to fall 2-0 down.
The team afterwards took a holiday to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.
Prior to the Adelaide contest, he said his team had held "raw" conversations and he had urged them to "show a bit of dog" in their battle to stay in contention in the Ashes battle.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman stated the messaging from Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their prior tenure in charge.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, unchanged," noted Crawley. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we were capable of an extraordinary feat going into this game."
Australia On the Verge of Rapid Ashes Triumph
The opener's dismissal late on Saturday was part of a crucial triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England six down for 207 chasing a daunting total of 435 runs.
This means, the home team require just four more wickets on the last day to secure an insurmountable 3-0 lead with three Tests.
A loss would prolong the English team's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth straight away Ashes defeat.
The current battle will be completed in only 11 days of play – with England fell the initial matches in rapid time respectively.
Not since 1921, when the Australians completed victory in England in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided so quickly. The hosts have also triumphed in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and we're facing elimination at this point."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we'll definitely view it like that," Crawley added.
"The challenge has been tough. Australia is a formidable side. It was always going to be hard coming here to face them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
Although the opener's innings in Adelaide probably answers questions about his short-term future in the England team, Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in the team's second innings on day four, adding to his modest returns versus Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and averages 17.62.
Only one other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
But, Crawley said any suggestion Pope is under the microscope originates with "the media" – meaning the press – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "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 chat like that regarding Pope amongst the players," he finished.
