Zak Crawley Unaware of Stokes' Provocative 'Frail Characters' Comments

England opener Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments from captain Stokes about the team environment as no place for "weak men".

Stokes made this message in several interviews in the wake of his team's loss in the second Ashes against Australia previously.

Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at defeat at the earliest opportunity, Stokes stated he had let his message to "circulate freely" within the playing group.

"I have completed all the talking in recent days that I needed to have done," remarked the England leader.

But, following the opener scored 85 on the fourth day in the third Test, he stated: "I didn't see that."

"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with some skepticism," Crawley continued.

Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging

Stokes issued his "weak men" observation after his side were beaten in Brisbane to fall two matches behind.

The team subsequently went on a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and third Tests.

Before the Adelaide contest, he revealed his players had held "honest" talks and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their battle to remain alive in the series.

Yet, the Kent batsman stated the guidance from Stokes and head coach McCullum had remained consistent with their prior three years in leadership.

"It's been very positive, the same as always," noted Crawley. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do something special going into this game."

Australia On the Verge of Historic Series Victory

Crawley's dismissal late on Saturday came during a crucial triple-strike by Australian spinner Nathan Lyon.

The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional total of 435 runs.

Consequently, the home team need just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage after three Tests.

Defeat would prolong the English team's drought in Australia to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth straight away Ashes series defeat.

This series is set to be decided in only 11 days of play – after England losing the initial matches in two and four days respectively.

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

"This is disheartening," said the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel now."

"There remains significant pride at stake and we will definitely view it with that mindset," Crawley added.

"It's been tough. They're a formidable team. It was inevitably hard touring here to face them. They were the favourites coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Pope's Position Under Scrutiny

Although the opener's innings in the third Test likely secures doubts about his short-term future in the England team, Pope looks under threat for his position in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.

Pope fell for 17 runs in the team's second innings on day four, adding to his modest returns against the old enemy.

In sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has never made a fifty and boasts an average of 17.62.

Only one other England player in over a century – Amiss – has played as many times in the top six in the Ashes and recorded a lower average.

But, the opener said any notion Pope is under the microscope comes from "the media" – referring to the press – "not inside the camp."

"The squad is fully aware of his considerable talent," added he. "He has had a productive year if I'm honest."

"He has played some really good knocks. It is noise externally. There's no chat of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," he finished.