England opener Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with statements made by skipper Ben Stokes about the dressing room not being "those lacking fortitude".
The all-rounder made those words in multiple conversations in the wake of England's defeat in the second Ashes series against Australia earlier this month.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England now face defeat with a match to spare, Stokes noted he had let his sentiment to "drift around" among the squad.
"I've done the necessary discussions over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked the England leader.
However, following the opener made 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with some skepticism," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "fragile individuals" comment subsequent to England were beaten in Brisbane to go 2-0 down.
The England squad subsequently went on a holiday to Noosa between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Before this match, Stokes revealed his players had held "raw" talks and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their battle to remain in contention in the Ashes battle.
Nevertheless, Crawley stated the guidance from the captain and head coach Brendon McCullum had stayed consistent with their prior tenure in charge.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, unchanged," said the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat going into this Test."
The Hosts Close of Historic Series Victory
Crawley's wicket late on Saturday was part of a decisive triple-strike by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Stokes himself – meant the chasing side 207-6 in pursuit of a notional target of 435.
This means, Australia need just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an unassailable 3-0 lead after three matches played.
Defeat will extend the English team's drought in Australia to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive overseas Ashes loss.
This series is set to be decided in just eleven days of play – after England fell the initial matches in two and four days each.
Not since 1921, when Australia sealed a series win in England in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in 11 days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"It's disappointing," admitted the batsman. "We came here to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There remains plenty to play for and we'll definitely view it like that," Crawley added.
"It's been tough. They're a formidable side. It was always going to be hard coming here against them. They entered as the favourites coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's performance in the third Test likely secures doubts about his short-term place in the England team, Ollie Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
Pope fell for 17 runs in the team's second innings on Saturday, adding to his poor record against Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope 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 played 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" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said he. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year to be frank."
"He has played several excellent innings. This is noise from the outside. There's no chat of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley finished.
