Crawley Unaware of Stokes' Controversial 'Frail Characters' Remarks

England opener Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments from skipper Ben Stokes about the team environment as no place for "those lacking fortitude".

Stokes delivered those words in several interviews in the wake of his team's loss in the second Ashes against the Australians previously.

Ahead of the third Test, where the visitors are staring at a series loss at the earliest opportunity, Stokes noted he had allowed his message to "circulate freely" among the squad.

"I have completed the necessary discussions over the past two days that I required," said the England leader.

However, following Crawley made 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, he stated: "I missed those remarks."

"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.

Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy

The captain issued his "weak men" comment subsequent to his side suffered a loss in the second Test to go 2-0 down.

The England squad subsequently went on a holiday to Noosa in the gap between the second and third Tests.

Before this match, he revealed his team had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to stay in contention in the series.

Yet, the Kent batsman asserted the messaging from Stokes and coach McCullum had remained consistent with their previous three years in charge.

"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said the opener. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with lots of freedom. It felt like we were capable of an extraordinary feat going into this game."

Australia On the Verge of Historic Series Victory

Crawley's dismissal late on Saturday came during a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Lyon.

The spinner's triple strike in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – left England 207-6 chasing a daunting target of 435 runs.

This means, Australia require just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage with three Tests.

Defeat will extend England's winless run in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive away Ashes defeat.

The current battle will be completed in only 11 days of cricket – with England losing the initial matches in rapid time respectively.

Not since 1921, when the Australians completed a series win in England in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other instances in the 21st century.

"This is disheartening," said the batsman. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."

"There remains plenty to play for and we will definitely view it like that," Crawley added.

"It's been tough. They're a very, very good team. It was inevitably hard touring here to face them. They entered as the favourites and have demonstrated their quality."

Ollie Pope's Place Under Scrutiny

Although Crawley's innings in the third Test probably answers questions about his immediate place in the England team, Pope appears under immense pressure for his spot in the fourth Test starting December 26th.

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

Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a fifty and averages 17.62.

Only one other England player in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average.

But, Crawley said any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – referring to the journalists – "not inside the camp."

"The squad is fully aware of his considerable talent," added he. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year if I'm honest."

"He has played several excellent innings. This is noise externally. There is no chat of that nature regarding Pope amongst the players," he concluded.