England opener Zak Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of statements from skipper Ben Stokes regarding the team environment as no place for "weak men".
Stokes delivered those words in several interviews in the wake of England's defeat in the second Ashes versus the Australians previously.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where the visitors now face defeat with a match to spare, the captain stated he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I have completed the necessary discussions over the past two days that I needed to have done," said the England leader.
But, after the opener scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he commented: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with some skepticism," he added.
Frank Discussions and Steady Philosophy
Stokes made the "weak men" observation subsequent to his side suffered a loss in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The England squad afterwards went on a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.
Prior to the Adelaide contest, Stokes said his players had held "honest" conversations and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their battle to stay in contention in the series.
Yet, Crawley stated the messaging from the captain and head coach McCullum had stayed consistent with their prior three years in charge.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," noted Crawley. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we were capable of something special entering this Test."
Australia Close of Historic Series Victory
Crawley's dismissal late on Saturday was part of a decisive triple-strike by Australia spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – he also bowled Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England six down for 207 chasing a notional total of 435 runs.
Consequently, Australia require four wickets on the last day to secure an insurmountable three-nil lead with three matches played.
Defeat will extend the English team's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth straight away Ashes series loss.
The current battle is set to be decided in just eleven days of cricket – after England losing the first two Tests in two and four days respectively.
The last time 1921, when Australia sealed a series win in England in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been decided so quickly. Australia have also triumphed 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 at this point."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"The challenge has been tough. Australia is a very, very good team. It was inevitably tough coming here against them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it they've proven why."
Ollie Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
Although the opener's performance in Adelaide likely secures doubts about his short-term place in the England team, Pope looks under threat for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in England's second knock on Saturday, extending his poor record against Australia.
In 16 Ashes innings, Pope has failed to score a half-century and boasts an average of just 17.62.
Only one other England player in over a century – Amiss – has played as many times in the top order in Ashes Tests and recorded a poorer average.
However, the opener insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – referring to the press – "not inside the camp."
"We all know of his considerable talent," said he. "He has had a good year to be frank."
"He has produced several excellent innings. This is noise externally. There's no discussion like that regarding Pope amongst the players," he concluded.
