Zak Crawley Unaware of Stokes' Controversial 'Frail Characters' Remarks

England opener Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with statements made by skipper Ben Stokes regarding the team environment not being "those lacking fortitude".

The all-rounder made this message in multiple conversations following England's loss in the second match of the Ashes series against the Australians previously.

In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where the visitors now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, Stokes noted he had let 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," said Stokes.

However, following the opener scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he commented: "I missed those remarks."

"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with some skepticism," Crawley continued.

Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging

The captain issued his "weak men" comment subsequent to his side suffered a loss in Brisbane to fall 2-0 down.

The team subsequently took a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and third Tests.

Prior to the Adelaide contest, he said his players had held "raw" talks and he had urged them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to remain in contention in the series.

Yet, Crawley stated the guidance from Stokes and head coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior tenure in charge.

"It's been very positive, unchanged," said the opener. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. It felt like we could do something special entering this game."

The Hosts On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory

Crawley's wicket late on Saturday came during a crucial triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

The spinner's three wickets in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England six down for 207 in pursuit of a daunting total of 435 runs.

This means, Australia need just four more wickets on the final day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage with three matches played.

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

This series is set to be decided in just eleven days of play – after England losing the first two Tests in two and four days each.

The last time 1921, when Australia sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been determined more swiftly. Australia have also won in 11 days on two other instances in the modern era.

"This is disheartening," said the batsman. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."

"There remains plenty to play for and we'll definitely view it like that," Crawley added.

"It's been difficult. Australia is a very, very good team. It was always going to be tough coming here to face them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Ollie Pope's Place In Question

Although Crawley's innings in the third Test probably answers doubts about his immediate place in the England team, Ollie Pope appears under threat 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 Saturday, extending his modest returns against Australia.

In 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has never made a half-century and boasts an average of 17.62.

A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in the Ashes and returned a lower average.

However, Crawley insisted any notion his teammate is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – meaning the press – "and not within the team."

"We all know of his considerable talent," added Crawley. "He has had a productive year if I'm honest."

"He has played several excellent innings. This is talk externally. There's no discussion like that on Ollie in the camp," he finished.