England opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments from captain Ben Stokes regarding the dressing room not being "weak men".
Stokes delivered those words in multiple conversations in the wake of England's defeat in the second Ashes series versus Australia earlier this month.
Ahead of the third Test, where England now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain noted he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" within the playing group.
"I have completed the necessary discussions over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked Stokes.
But, after Crawley made 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, he commented: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
Stokes made the "fragile individuals" observation after England were beaten in Brisbane to fall two matches behind.
The England squad subsequently took a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Before the Adelaide contest, he said his players had held "honest" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to stay in contention in the series.
Nevertheless, Crawley stated the messaging from the captain and head coach McCullum had remained in line with their prior three years in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said Crawley. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with great liberty. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat entering this game."
The Hosts Close of Historic Series Victory
The opener's wicket on day four came during a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian spinner Lyon.
Lyon's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – left England 207-6 chasing a daunting total of 435.
Consequently, Australia need just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an unassailable three-nil lead with three matches played.
Defeat will extend England's drought in this country to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth straight overseas Ashes defeat.
This series is set to be decided in only eleven days of cricket – after England fell the first two Tests in rapid time each.
The last time 1921, when the Australians sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been determined more swiftly. The hosts have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.
"This is disheartening," admitted the batsman. "We came here to regain the Ashes and we're staring down the barrel now."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we'll definitely view it like that," Crawley added.
"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was always going to be hard touring here to face them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it they've proven why."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
Although the opener's performance in Adelaide likely secures questions about his short-term place in the side, Ollie Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 runs in the team's second innings on day four, extending his poor record versus Australia.
Across 16 Ashes innings, Pope has failed to score a half-century and boasts an average of just 17.62.
A solitary other England player in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top order in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
However, the opener said any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – meaning the press – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "He has had a good year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. This is talk externally. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie in the camp," Crawley concluded.
