Crawley Unaware of Stokes' Provocative 'Weak Men' Remarks

England opening batter Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments made by captain Ben Stokes regarding the team environment not being "weak men".

The all-rounder made this message in several conversations in the wake of England's loss in the second match of the Ashes series against Australia earlier this month.

In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where the visitors now face a series loss at the earliest opportunity, Stokes noted he had allowed his message to "drift around" within the playing group.

"I have completed the necessary discussions over the past two days that I needed to have done," said Stokes.

However, following Crawley made a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he commented: "I missed those remarks."

"I wasn't actively searching for it. We take everything that is said in the press with some skepticism," Crawley continued.

Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging

The captain made the "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to England suffered a loss in the second Test to go 2-0 down.

The England squad afterwards went on a holiday to a Queensland resort between the second and the upcoming Tests.

Prior to this match, Stokes revealed his players had held "raw" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to stay in contention in the Ashes battle.

Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the messaging from the captain and head coach McCullum had stayed in line with their previous tenure in leadership.

"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," noted Crawley. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. It felt like we could do something special entering this Test."

The Hosts On the Verge of Historic Series Victory

The opener's dismissal late on Saturday was part of a crucial triple-strike by Australian spinner Lyon.

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

Consequently, Australia need just four more wickets on Sunday's final day to secure an insurmountable 3-0 advantage with three matches played.

Defeat would prolong England's drought in this country to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth straight overseas Ashes series defeat.

This series is set to be decided in just 11 days of cricket – with England fell the first two Tests in rapid time respectively.

The last time 1921, when Australia completed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided so quickly. The hosts have also triumphed in eleven days on two other occasions in the modern era.

"This is disappointing," admitted Crawley. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."

"There will still be plenty to play for and we will definitely view it like that," he continued.

"It's been tough. They're a very, very good side. It was inevitably hard coming here to face them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Ollie Pope's Position In Question

While Crawley's innings in Adelaide probably answers questions about his immediate place in the side, Ollie Pope appears under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.

Pope fell for 17 runs in England's second innings on Saturday, extending his poor record versus the old enemy.

Across 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has failed to score a half-century and boasts an average of 17.62.

Only one other England player in over a century – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average.

However, Crawley said any suggestion his teammate is being scrutinised originates with "you guys" – referring to the press – "not inside the camp."

"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," added he. "He has had a productive year to be frank."

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