The English opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with statements made by captain Ben Stokes about the team environment not being "weak men".
The all-rounder delivered those words in multiple interviews in the wake of England's defeat in the second Ashes series against Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at a series loss with a match to spare, the captain stated he had allowed his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the playing group.
"I have completed the necessary discussions in recent days that I required," remarked Stokes.
However, after Crawley made 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he commented: "I missed those remarks."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the media with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain issued his "weak men" comment subsequent to England suffered a loss in Brisbane to go 2-0 down.
The England squad subsequently took a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Before this match, he revealed his players had held "honest" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain alive in the Ashes battle.
Yet, Crawley stated the messaging from the captain and coach McCullum had remained consistent with their prior tenure in charge.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, the same as always," noted Crawley. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do something special going into this game."
The Hosts On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory
Crawley's wicket on day four came during a crucial three-wicket burst by Australia spinner Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional total of 435 runs.
This means, Australia need four wickets on the final day to move to an unassailable three-nil advantage after three matches played.
Defeat will extend the English team's drought in Australia to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes series defeat.
This series will be completed in only eleven days of cricket – after England losing the first two Tests in rapid time each.
The last time 1921, when the Australians sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been determined more swiftly. The hosts 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 now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There remains plenty to play for and we'll certainly approach it with that mindset," Crawley added.
"It's been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was inevitably hard coming here to face them. They entered as the favourites and have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Place In Question
Although Crawley's innings in the third Test probably answers doubts about his immediate place in the England team, Pope appears under threat for his position in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope fell for 17 in the team's second innings on day four, adding to his modest returns against the old enemy.
Across 16 Ashes innings, Pope has failed to score a fifty and averages just 17.62.
Only one other England player in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top order in the Ashes and recorded a lower average.
However, Crawley said any suggestion Pope is being scrutinised originates with "the media" – referring to the journalists – "and not within the team."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said he. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. This is talk externally. There's no chat of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," he concluded.
