England opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of comments made by captain Stokes about the dressing room not being "weak men".
Stokes made this message in multiple conversations following his team's loss in the second match of the Ashes series against Australia previously.
In the lead-up to the third Test, where the visitors now face a series loss with a match to spare, Stokes stated he had allowed his sentiment to "drift around" among the squad.
"I've done all the talking over the past two days that I required," remarked Stokes.
However, following the opener made 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, he commented: "I missed those remarks."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with a pinch of salt," he added.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "weak men" observation after England were beaten in Brisbane to fall 2-0 down.
The team afterwards went on a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and third matches.
Prior to this match, he revealed his team had held "honest" talks and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their battle to remain alive in the series.
Yet, the Kent batsman stated the guidance from the captain and coach Brendon McCullum had stayed in line with their previous tenure in leadership.
"It's been very positive, unchanged," noted the opener. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."
The Hosts On the Verge of Historic Series Victory
Crawley's dismissal on day four came during a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Lyon.
Lyon's triple strike in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side 207-6 in pursuit of a daunting total of 435 runs.
This means, the home team need just four more wickets on the last day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 lead with three matches played.
A loss would prolong the English team's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth straight away Ashes defeat.
The current battle will be completed in just eleven days of play – after England fell the initial matches in two and four days respectively.
Not since 1921, when the Australians completed a series win in England in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been decided so quickly. The hosts have also won in 11 days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"This is disheartening," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel now."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"It's been tough. Australia is a very, very good team. It was always going to be tough touring here to face them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Position In Question
While Crawley's performance in Adelaide probably answers questions about his short-term future in the side, Ollie Pope looks under threat for his position in the fourth Test on Boxing Day.
Pope fell for 17 in England's second innings on Saturday, adding to his poor record versus the old enemy.
In sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and averages just 17.62.
Only one other English batsman in over a century – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top six in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.
However, Crawley insisted any notion his teammate is being scrutinised originates with "the media" – referring to the press – "and not within the team."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year if I'm honest."
"He has played some really good knocks. It is noise externally. There's no chat of that nature regarding Pope amongst the players," Crawley finished.