England opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments from captain Stokes regarding the team environment as no place for "weak men".
Stokes delivered this message in multiple conversations in the wake of his team's defeat in the second Ashes versus Australia previously.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at defeat with a match to spare, the captain noted he had allowed 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.
However, following the opener scored a knock of 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 media with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
Stokes made the "weak men" observation subsequent to England suffered a loss in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The England squad afterwards went on a break to a Queensland resort between the second and third Tests.
Before the Adelaide contest, he said his team had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to stay alive in the series.
Yet, the Kent batsman asserted the guidance from Stokes and coach McCullum had remained in line with their previous tenure in leadership.
"It's been very positive, unchanged," said Crawley. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."
Australia Close of Rapid Series Victory
Crawley's wicket on day four came during a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – meant England 207-6 in pursuit of a notional total of 435.
Consequently, the home team need just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to secure an unassailable three-nil advantage with three matches played.
A loss will extend the English team's winless run in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive overseas Ashes series defeat.
This series will be completed in just 11 days of cricket – with England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.
Not since 1921, when Australia completed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided more swiftly. The hosts have also triumphed in 11 days on two other instances in the modern era.
"It's disappointing," said Crawley. "We came here to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There will still be plenty to play for and we'll definitely view it with that mindset," he continued.
"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a very, very good side. It was inevitably hard touring here against them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
Although Crawley's innings in Adelaide probably answers questions about his immediate place in the England team, Pope looks under threat for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
Pope fell for 17 runs in the team's second innings on day four, adding to his modest returns versus Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has never made a fifty and averages just 17.62.
Only one other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has featured as many times in the top order in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
But, Crawley said any notion his teammate is being scrutinised originates with "the media" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has played several excellent innings. This is talk externally. There is no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley concluded.
