England opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by captain Ben Stokes about the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
The all-rounder delivered those words in several conversations in the wake of his team's loss in the second Ashes versus the Australians previously.
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" within the squad.
"I've done all the talking in recent days that I required," remarked Stokes.
However, after the opener scored a knock of 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 anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," he added.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
Stokes issued his "fragile individuals" observation after England were beaten in Brisbane to go two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards went on a holiday to Noosa between the second and third matches.
Before this match, Stokes revealed his players had held "honest" conversations and he had urged them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to stay in contention in the Ashes battle.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman asserted the guidance from Stokes and coach McCullum had stayed in line with their previous three years in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," noted the opener. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with great liberty. It felt like we could do something special going into this Test."
Australia Close of Historic Series Victory
The opener's dismissal on day four was part of a crucial triple-strike by Australian off-spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Harry Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side 207-6 in pursuit of a daunting target of 435 runs.
This means, the home team require just four more wickets on Sunday's final day to move to an insurmountable three-nil lead after three Tests.
Defeat would prolong England's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth straight overseas Ashes loss.
This series is set to be decided in only 11 days of cricket – after England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when the Australians sealed victory in England in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided so quickly. The hosts have also won in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"This is disappointing," admitted the batsman. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and we're facing elimination now."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we'll certainly approach it with that mindset," Crawley added.
"It's been difficult. Australia is a very, very good team. It was always going to be hard coming here to face them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Position In Question
While Crawley's innings in the third Test likely secures doubts about his short-term place in the side, Pope looks under threat for his spot in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 in the team's second innings on Saturday, adding to his poor record against the old enemy.
In sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of just 17.62.
Only one other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played as many times in the top order in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
However, the opener insisted any notion his teammate is being scrutinised originates with "the media" – meaning the press – "and not within the team."
"We all know of his considerable talent," added he. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has produced several excellent innings. It is talk from the outside. There is no chat of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," he concluded.
