England opener Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments from skipper Ben Stokes about the team environment not being "weak men".
Stokes delivered this message in multiple conversations following England's loss in the second Ashes series against Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where England now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain stated he had let his message to "drift around" among the playing group.
"I've done all the talking over the past two days that I needed to have done," said Stokes.
However, after the opener scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with some skepticism," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
Stokes made the "weak men" observation after England suffered a loss in Brisbane to go two matches behind.
The team subsequently went on a break to a Queensland resort between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before the Adelaide contest, he revealed his team 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, Crawley stated the guidance from Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their previous three years in leadership.
"It's been extremely upbeat, the same as always," noted Crawley. "It's just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."
Australia On the Verge of Rapid Ashes Triumph
The opener's dismissal on day four was part of a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – meant the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a daunting target of 435 runs.
This means, Australia require four wickets on the final day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage with three matches played.
A loss will extend England's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes defeat.
This series will be completed in just 11 days of play – after England losing the initial matches in rapid time respectively.
The last time 1921, when Australia completed victory in England in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been decided so quickly. The hosts have also triumphed in eleven days on two other occasions in the modern era.
"It's disheartening," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and we're staring down the barrel now."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"It's been difficult. They're a formidable team. It was always going to be hard coming here to face them. They were the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's innings in Adelaide probably answers questions about his short-term place in the England team, Pope appears under immense pressure for his spot in the fourth Test on Boxing Day.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 runs in the team's second knock on day four, extending his poor record against Australia.
In 16 Ashes innings, Pope has never made a fifty and averages just 17.62.
Only one other English batsman since 1900 – Dennis Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average.
However, Crawley insisted any suggestion his teammate is under the microscope comes from "the media" – referring to the journalists – "and not within the team."
"We all know of his considerable talent," added Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year to be frank."
"He has played some really good knocks. It is noise externally. There's no chat like that regarding Pope in the camp," Crawley finished.
