England opener Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments made by captain Stokes regarding the team environment not being "weak men".
Stokes delivered those words in multiple interviews in the wake of his team's loss in the second match of the Ashes against the Australians previously.
Ahead of the third Test, where England are staring at a series loss with a match to spare, the captain stated he had let his message to "drift around" among the playing group.
"I've done all the talking in recent days that I required," remarked Stokes.
But, following the opener scored a knock of 85 on the fourth day in the third Test, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching 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 fall two matches behind.
The England squad subsequently took a holiday to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before the Adelaide contest, Stokes said his players had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain alive in the Ashes battle.
Yet, the Kent batsman stated the messaging from the captain and head coach Brendon McCullum had stayed in line with their prior tenure in charge.
"It's been very positive, the same as always," noted the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with great liberty. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat going into this Test."
Australia On the Verge of Historic Series Victory
The opener's wicket late on Saturday was part of a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional target of 435 runs.
This means, Australia require four wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 lead after three matches played.
A loss would prolong the English team's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth straight away Ashes series defeat.
This series is set to be decided in only eleven days of cricket – after England fell the initial matches in two and four days each.
Not since 1921, when Australia sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"This is disheartening," said the batsman. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"It's been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was always going to be hard touring here to face them. They entered as the favourites and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place In Question
Although the opener's performance in Adelaide probably answers doubts about his immediate place in the England team, Ollie Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope fell for 17 in the team's second knock on Saturday, adding to his poor record versus the old enemy.
Across 16 Ashes innings, Pope has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of just 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top six in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.
However, the opener said any suggestion Pope is being scrutinised originates with "you guys" – referring to the press – "not inside the camp."
"We all know of his considerable talent," said Crawley. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has produced several excellent innings. This is talk externally. There is no discussion like that on Ollie in the camp," Crawley concluded.
