England opener Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by captain Stokes about the team environment as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
Stokes delivered those words in multiple interviews in the wake of his team's defeat in the second match of the Ashes series versus the Australians previously.
In the lead-up to the third Test, where England now face a series loss at the earliest opportunity, Stokes stated he had allowed his sentiment to "drift around" within the playing group.
"I've done the necessary discussions over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked Stokes.
However, after Crawley made 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 everything that is said in the press with some skepticism," he added.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
Stokes issued his "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to England suffered a loss in the second Test to fall two matches behind.
The team afterwards took a break to a Queensland resort between the second and third matches.
Prior to this match, he said his team had held "honest" conversations and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to remain in contention in the series.
Yet, Crawley stated the messaging from Stokes and coach McCullum had remained consistent with their previous three years in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, unchanged," said Crawley. "It's just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, 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 wicket late on Saturday came during a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side six down for 207 in pursuit of a daunting target of 435 runs.
This means, the home team require just four more wickets on the last day to secure an insurmountable 3-0 lead with three matches played.
Defeat will extend the English team's drought in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive away Ashes series defeat.
The current battle is set to be decided in just eleven days of cricket – with England losing the first two Tests in rapid time respectively.
The last time 1921, when the Australians sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome 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," admitted the batsman. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we will definitely view it with that mindset," he continued.
"The challenge has been tough. They're a very, very good team. It was inevitably hard coming here to face them. They were the favourites and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While the opener's performance in Adelaide probably answers doubts about his immediate future in the England team, Ollie Pope looks under threat for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 in England's second innings on Saturday, adding to his modest returns versus the old enemy.
In 16 Ashes innings, Pope has failed to score a half-century and averages 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top six in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
However, the opener insisted any notion Pope is under the microscope comes from "you guys" – referring to the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has played several excellent innings. This is noise externally. There is no chat like that regarding Pope amongst the players," Crawley finished.
