Crawley Unaware of Stokes' Controversial 'Frail Characters' Remarks

England opener Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments from skipper Stokes regarding the dressing room as no place for "weak men".

The all-rounder delivered this message in several conversations following England's loss in the second Ashes against Australia previously.

Ahead of the third Test, where England now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, Stokes stated he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the playing group.

"I've done 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 media with a pinch of salt," he added.

Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging

The captain issued his "weak men" comment subsequent to England were beaten in the second Test to go 2-0 down.

The team subsequently went on a holiday to a Queensland resort between the second and third matches.

Prior to this match, he said his players had held "honest" conversations and he had urged them to "show a bit of dog" in their battle to remain in contention in the series.

Nevertheless, the Kent batsman asserted the messaging from Stokes and coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior tenure in leadership.

"The atmosphere has been very positive, the same as always," said the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. It felt like we could do something special entering this game."

Australia On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory

Crawley's wicket late on Saturday was part of a decisive three-wicket burst by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

Lyon's triple strike in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – left England six down for 207 chasing a daunting total of 435 runs.

This means, the home team need just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an unassailable three-nil advantage with three matches played.

A loss will extend the English team's drought in Australia to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth straight overseas Ashes loss.

The current battle is set to be decided in only 11 days of play – after England fell the first two Tests in two and four days respectively.

Not since 1921, when Australia completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been decided so quickly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.

"This is disheartening," admitted the batsman. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and we're facing elimination now."

"There will still be significant pride at stake and we'll definitely view it like that," Crawley added.

"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was inevitably tough coming here to face them. They entered as the favourites coming in to it they've proven why."

Ollie Pope's Position Under Scrutiny

Although Crawley's innings in the third Test probably answers doubts about his short-term future in the England team, Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.

The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in the team's second innings on day four, extending his poor record versus the old enemy.

Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has never made a fifty and boasts an average of 17.62.

Only one other English batsman in over a century – Amiss – has featured as many times in the top six in the Ashes and recorded a poorer average.

But, the opener insisted any suggestion his teammate is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – meaning the journalists – "and not within the team."

"The squad is fully aware of his considerable talent," added Crawley. "He has had a productive year if I'm honest."

"He has played several excellent innings. This is noise externally. There's no discussion of that nature regarding Pope in the camp," he finished.