The English opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of statements made by captain Ben Stokes regarding the dressing room not being "weak men".
The all-rounder delivered this message in multiple interviews following England's defeat in the second Ashes series against the Australians previously.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where the visitors now face a series loss at the earliest opportunity, Stokes noted he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" within the squad.
"I've done all the talking over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked Stokes.
But, following the opener scored 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I missed those remarks."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. We take everything that is said in the media with a pinch of salt," he added.
Frank Discussions and Steady Philosophy
The captain made the "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to England were beaten in Brisbane to go two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards took a holiday to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and third matches.
Before the Adelaide contest, he 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 messaging from the captain and coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their previous tenure in charge.
"It's been extremely upbeat, the same as always," noted Crawley. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do something special entering this Test."
The Hosts Close of Historic Series Victory
The opener's wicket late on Saturday came during a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a daunting total of 435 runs.
Consequently, Australia need just four more wickets on Sunday's final day to move to an unassailable 3-0 advantage after three matches played.
A loss would prolong the English team's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive away Ashes series defeat.
The current battle is set to be decided in only eleven days of play – with England fell the initial matches in two and four days respectively.
Not since 1921, when the Australians completed a series win in England in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been decided more swiftly. The hosts have also won in 11 days on two other occasions in the modern era.
"It's disappointing," said Crawley. "We came here to win the Ashes and we're facing elimination at this point."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we'll certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"The challenge has been tough. They're a formidable team. It was inevitably tough coming here against them. They were the favourites and they've proven why."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's performance in Adelaide probably answers questions about his immediate place in the side, Pope appears under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope was out for 17 runs in the team's second innings on Saturday, extending his poor record against Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has never made a fifty and averages just 17.62.
A solitary other England player since 1900 – Dennis Amiss – has featured as many times in the top order in Ashes Tests and recorded a lower average.
However, Crawley insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – referring to the press – "not inside the camp."
"We all know of his considerable talent," said he. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has produced several excellent innings. This is noise from the outside. There's no discussion like that on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley finished.
