England opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of comments from captain Stokes regarding the dressing room not being "those lacking fortitude".
The all-rounder made those words in several interviews following his team's loss in the second match of the Ashes against the Australians previously.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England now face a series loss at the earliest opportunity, Stokes noted he had let his message to "drift around" among the playing group.
"I have completed the necessary discussions in recent days that I required," remarked the England leader.
But, after the opener scored 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 media with some skepticism," he added.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "weak men" comment after his side were beaten in Brisbane to fall two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards took a holiday to a Queensland resort 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 in contention in the series.
Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the messaging from Stokes and coach McCullum had remained consistent with their previous tenure in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, the same as always," noted Crawley. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat going into this Test."
The Hosts Close of Rapid Series Victory
The opener's dismissal on day four came during a crucial triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Harry Brook and Stokes himself – left England 207-6 in pursuit of a daunting target of 435 runs.
This means, the home team need four wickets on the final day to secure an unassailable three-nil lead after three Tests.
Defeat will extend England's drought in Australia to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth straight away Ashes series loss.
This series is set to be decided in just 11 days of play – after England fell the initial matches in two and four days respectively.
The last time 1921, when Australia sealed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided so quickly. The hosts have also won in 11 days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"This is disheartening," admitted the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel now."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we'll certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"It's been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was always going to be tough coming here against them. They entered as the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
Although the opener's performance in Adelaide probably answers questions about his immediate future in the side, Pope appears under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in the team's second innings on day four, adding to his modest returns versus Australia.
Across 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has failed to score a half-century and boasts an average of just 17.62.
Only one other English batsman since 1900 – Dennis Amiss – has featured as many times in the top six in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.
However, Crawley insisted any suggestion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – meaning the press – "not inside the camp."
"We all know of his considerable talent," added he. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. It is talk externally. There's no chat of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley finished.
