Crawley Claims Ignorance of Stokes' Controversial 'Weak Men' Comments

England opener Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with statements from skipper Stokes regarding the team environment as no place for "weak men".

Stokes delivered those words in several conversations following his team's defeat in the second match of the Ashes versus Australia earlier this month.

Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at defeat with a match to spare, the captain stated he had allowed his message to "drift around" among the squad.

"I've done all the talking over the past two days that I required," remarked Stokes.

But, following the opener scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he stated: "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 press with a pinch of salt," he added.

Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging

The captain issued his "weak men" observation subsequent to his side were beaten in the second Test to go two matches behind.

The England squad afterwards took a holiday to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.

Prior to the Adelaide contest, Stokes revealed his team had held "raw" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain in contention in the Ashes battle.

Nevertheless, Crawley stated the messaging from Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum had stayed in line with their prior three years in leadership.

"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said Crawley. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. It felt like we could do something special going into this Test."

The Hosts On the Verge of Historic Series Victory

The opener's dismissal on day four was part of a crucial triple-strike by Australian spinner Nathan Lyon.

Lyon's triple strike in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – meant the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a daunting total of 435.

This means, the home team require just four more wickets on the final day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage after three Tests.

A loss will extend England's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth straight overseas Ashes defeat.

The current battle will be completed in just eleven days of cricket – after England losing the first two Tests in two and four days respectively.

Not since 1921, when the Australians sealed a series win in England in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided so quickly. Australia have also won in 11 days on two other occasions in the 21st century.

"It's disheartening," said Crawley. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and we're staring down the barrel now."

"There remains plenty to play for and we will definitely view it with that mindset," he continued.

"It's been difficult. They're a very, very good side. It was always going to be tough coming here to face them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Pope's Place In Question

While the opener's innings in the third Test probably answers questions about his short-term place in the side, Ollie Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.

Pope was out for 17 runs in England's second knock on day four, adding to his poor record versus the old enemy.

Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a fifty and averages just 17.62.

Only one other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has played as many times in the top six in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.

However, Crawley insisted any suggestion his teammate is under the microscope comes from "the media" – referring to the journalists – "and not within the team."

"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "He has had a productive year if I'm honest."

"He has produced some really good knocks. It is noise from the outside. There's no discussion like that on Ollie amongst the players," he finished.