England opener Zak Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of comments made by skipper Stokes about the team environment as no place for "weak men".
The all-rounder delivered those words in several interviews in the wake of England's loss in the second Ashes versus Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at defeat with a match to spare, Stokes noted he had let his message to "drift around" within the squad.
"I've done all the talking in recent days that I required," remarked the England leader.
But, following Crawley scored a knock of 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the press with some skepticism," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
Stokes issued his "weak men" observation after England suffered a loss in the second Test to fall two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards went on a holiday to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before the Adelaide contest, he said his team had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay in contention in the series.
Yet, the Kent batsman asserted the guidance from the captain and coach McCullum had remained consistent with their prior three years in charge.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, unchanged," noted the opener. "It's just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do something special going into this Test."
The Hosts On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory
Crawley's dismissal late on Saturday came during a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a notional target of 435.
This means, Australia require four wickets on the final day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 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 will be completed in just 11 days of play – with England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.
Not since 1921, when the Australians completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also won in 11 days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," said the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There will still be plenty to play for and we will definitely view it like that," Crawley added.
"It's been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was inevitably tough touring here to face them. They entered as the favourites coming in to it they've proven why."
Pope's Position In Question
Although the opener's innings in the third Test probably answers questions about his immediate place in the side, Ollie Pope appears under threat for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope fell for 17 runs in England's second innings on Saturday, extending his poor record versus the old enemy.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of just 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top six in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
But, the opener insisted any suggestion his teammate is under the microscope originates with "the media" – referring to the press – "not inside the camp."
"We all know of his considerable talent," added Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has produced several excellent innings. It is noise externally. There is no chat of that nature on Ollie in the camp," he concluded.
