Zak 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 dressing room as no place for "weak men".

Stokes delivered those words in several interviews in the wake of his team's loss in the second match of the Ashes versus Australia earlier this month.

In the lead-up to the third Test, where England now face a series loss at the earliest opportunity, Stokes stated he had allowed his message to "circulate freely" among the squad.

"I've done all the talking in recent days that I required," said the England leader.

However, after Crawley made 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I didn't see that."

"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. We take anything stated in the press with some skepticism," Crawley continued.

Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging

Stokes made the "fragile individuals" observation after his side suffered a loss in Brisbane to go 2-0 down.

The England squad afterwards went on a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.

Before this match, Stokes revealed his players had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay alive in the Ashes battle.

Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the messaging from Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum had stayed in line with their previous three years in charge.

"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," noted the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do something special going into this game."

Australia On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory

Crawley's dismissal late on Saturday was part of a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian spinner Lyon.

Lyon's three wickets in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional total of 435.

Consequently, Australia require four wickets on Sunday's final day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage with three Tests.

A loss would prolong England's winless run in this country to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes series defeat.

The current battle is set to be decided in only eleven days of cricket – after England losing the first two Tests in two and four days respectively.

Not since 1921, when Australia completed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been determined more swiftly. The hosts have also won in 11 days on two other instances in the modern era.

"It's disheartening," said the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and we're facing elimination at this point."

"There will still be 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 side. It was inevitably hard touring here to face them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Ollie Pope's Position Under Scrutiny

While Crawley's performance in Adelaide probably answers questions about his immediate place in the side, Ollie Pope appears under threat for his position in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.

The Surrey batsman fell for 17 runs in England's second knock on Saturday, extending his modest returns against Australia.

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

Only one other England player since 1900 – Amiss – has played as many times in the top order in the Ashes and recorded a lower average.

However, the opener said any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – referring to the press – "not inside the camp."

"The squad is fully aware of his considerable talent," said he. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year to be frank."

"He has played several excellent innings. This is noise from the outside. There is no chat like that regarding Pope amongst the players," Crawley concluded.