England opener Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments from captain Ben Stokes about the team environment as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
The all-rounder delivered this message in several conversations in the wake of his team's defeat in the second Ashes versus the Australians earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at defeat with a match to spare, the captain stated he had allowed his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I've done the necessary discussions in recent days that I needed to have done," said the England leader.
However, after the opener scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he commented: "I missed those remarks."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
The captain made the "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to England suffered a loss in Brisbane to go 2-0 down.
The team afterwards took a holiday to Noosa between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Prior to this match, he said his team had held "honest" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to stay in contention in the series.
Yet, the Kent batsman asserted the messaging from the captain and head coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior three years in leadership.
"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. It felt like we were capable of an extraordinary feat going into this Test."
The Hosts Close of Rapid Series Victory
Crawley's dismissal on day four came during a decisive triple-strike by Australia spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – left England 207-6 chasing a daunting target of 435 runs.
Consequently, Australia require just four more wickets on the last day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 advantage with three matches played.
A loss will extend the English team's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth successive away Ashes loss.
The current battle is set to be decided in only 11 days of play – with England losing the first two Tests in two and four days respectively.
The last time 1921, when Australia sealed victory in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided so quickly. The hosts have also won in 11 days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," said the batsman. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we'll definitely view it with that mindset," he continued.
"The challenge has been tough. They're a very, very good team. It was always going to be tough coming here against them. They were the favourites and have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
While the opener's performance in Adelaide probably answers doubts about his short-term place in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 in the team's second innings on Saturday, adding to his poor record against Australia.
In 16 Ashes innings, Pope has never made a half-century and boasts an average of 17.62.
A solitary other England player since 1900 – Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top six in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.
However, the opener said any suggestion Pope is being scrutinised originates with "you guys" – meaning the press – "and not within the team."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," added he. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has produced several excellent innings. This is noise externally. There is no chat like that regarding Pope in the camp," he concluded.
