England opener Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with statements made by captain Ben Stokes about the team environment as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
Stokes made those words in multiple conversations in the wake of his team's defeat in the second match of the Ashes series versus 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 noted he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" within the playing group.
"I've done the necessary discussions over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked the England leader.
But, following Crawley scored 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he commented: "I missed those remarks."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the press with a pinch of salt," he added.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
Stokes made the "weak men" observation subsequent to England suffered a loss in Brisbane to go 2-0 down.
The England squad subsequently went on a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Prior to this match, Stokes revealed his team had held "raw" talks and he had urged them to "show a bit of dog" in their battle to stay in contention in the Ashes battle.
Yet, Crawley stated the guidance from the captain and coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their prior three years in charge.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, the same as always," noted Crawley. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with great liberty. We believed we could do something special entering this Test."
Australia On the Verge of Historic Ashes Triumph
The opener's wicket on day four was part of a crucial triple-strike by Australian spinner Nathan Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side six down for 207 in pursuit of a daunting target 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 will extend England's winless run in this country to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth straight overseas Ashes series loss.
The current battle will be completed in only 11 days of cricket – after England losing the initial matches in rapid time each.
Not since 1921, when Australia completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other occasions in the modern era.
"It's disappointing," admitted the batsman. "We came here to regain the Ashes and we're facing elimination at this point."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we'll certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"It's been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was inevitably hard coming here against them. They were the favourites coming in to it they've proven why."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While the opener's performance in the third Test likely secures doubts about his short-term future in the England team, Pope appears under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in England's second knock on Saturday, adding to his poor record versus Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has never made a fifty and averages just 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top six in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
But, Crawley said any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – referring to the press – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," said he. "He has had a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has played several excellent innings. It is talk from the outside. There's no discussion like that on Ollie amongst the players," he finished.
