Zak Crawley Claims Ignorance of Stokes' Provocative 'Weak Men' Comments

England opening batter Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by skipper Ben Stokes about the team environment as no place for "weak men".

The all-rounder delivered this message in several conversations in the wake of his team's defeat in the second match of the Ashes versus the Australians earlier this month.

In the lead-up to the third Test, where England are staring at defeat with a match to spare, Stokes stated he had allowed his sentiment to "circulate freely" within the squad.

"I have completed all the talking over the past two days that I needed to have done," said the England leader.

However, following the opener scored 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he stated: "I missed those remarks."

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

Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging

Stokes issued his "weak men" observation subsequent to England were beaten in the second Test to go two matches behind.

The England squad afterwards went on a holiday to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests.

Prior to the Adelaide contest, he said his players had held "honest" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to stay in contention in the Ashes battle.

Nevertheless, the Kent batsman stated the guidance from Stokes and head coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior three years in charge.

"It's been extremely upbeat, the same as always," noted the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."

Australia Close of Historic Ashes Triumph

The opener's wicket on day four came during a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

The spinner's triple strike in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional total of 435 runs.

Consequently, the home team require just four more wickets on the last day to move to an unassailable 3-0 lead with three Tests.

Defeat would prolong the English team's winless run in this country to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth straight away Ashes loss.

This series is set to be decided in only 11 days of play – with England fell the initial matches in rapid time respectively.

Not since 1921, when Australia sealed victory in England in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other occasions in the modern era.

"It's disappointing," admitted the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."

"There will still be significant pride at stake and we will definitely view it like that," he continued.

"It's been tough. They're a formidable side. It was always going to be hard touring here against them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Pope's Position Under Scrutiny

While Crawley's performance in the third Test likely secures questions about his immediate future in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.

Pope was out for 17 in the team's second knock on Saturday, adding to his poor record versus Australia.

In 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of 17.62.

A solitary other England player in over a century – Amiss – has featured as many times in the top order in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.

But, the opener said any suggestion his teammate is being scrutinised originates with "the media" – referring to the press – "and not within the team."

"We all know of his considerable talent," added he. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year to be frank."

"He has played several excellent innings. It is noise externally. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," he finished.