Zak Crawley Claims Ignorance of Captain Stokes' Provocative 'Weak Men' Remarks
England opener Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments made by captain Stokes about the team environment not being "weak men".
Stokes made those words in multiple interviews following England's loss in the second Ashes series versus Australia previously.
In the lead-up to the third Test, where England are staring at defeat at the earliest opportunity, Stokes stated he had allowed his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the playing group.
"I've done the necessary discussions over the past two days that I required," said Stokes.
However, after the opener made 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. We take everything that is said in the press with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
Stokes made the "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to England were beaten in Brisbane to go two matches behind.
The team afterwards took a holiday to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Before the Adelaide contest, he said his team had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to stay in contention in the series.
Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the messaging from Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum had stayed in line with their prior three years in leadership.
"It's been very positive, unchanged," said Crawley. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. It felt like we could do something special going into this game."
Australia Close of Historic Series Victory
The opener's dismissal on day four was part of a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Harry Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional target of 435 runs.
This means, Australia require just four more wickets on Sunday's final day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 advantage after three Tests.
Defeat would prolong the English team's drought in this country to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth successive away Ashes loss.
The current battle will be completed in only 11 days of play – after England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.
Not since 1921, when Australia completed victory in England in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," admitted the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There remains plenty to play for and we'll certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"The challenge has been tough. Australia is a very, very good side. It was always going to be hard coming here to face them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's innings in Adelaide probably answers questions about his immediate future in the England team, Pope looks under threat for his spot in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in England's second innings on day four, adding to his modest returns against Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of just 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Dennis Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and recorded a poorer average.
However, Crawley said any suggestion Pope is under the microscope originates with "the media" – meaning the journalists – "and not within the team."
"We all know of his considerable talent," added Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. This is talk externally. There is no discussion like that regarding Pope amongst the players," he finished.