Crawley Claims Ignorance of Captain Stokes' Controversial 'Frail Characters' Remarks

England opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments made by captain Stokes about the dressing room not being "weak men".

The all-rounder made this message in several interviews in the wake of England's loss in the second Ashes against the Australians previously.

Ahead of the third Test, where England now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain stated he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" within the squad.

"I have completed the necessary discussions in recent days that I required," remarked Stokes.

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

"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with some skepticism," he added.

Frank Discussions and Steady Philosophy

The captain made the "weak men" comment subsequent to England suffered a loss in the second Test to fall 2-0 down.

The team afterwards took a holiday to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.

Before the Adelaide contest, Stokes revealed his players had held "honest" talks and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay alive in the Ashes battle.

Nevertheless, Crawley stated the messaging from Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum had stayed consistent with their prior three years in charge.

"It's been very positive, unchanged," noted the opener. "It's just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we were capable of an extraordinary feat going into this game."

The Hosts Close of Historic Ashes Triumph

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

The spinner's triple strike in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a daunting total of 435.

Consequently, the home team require just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to secure an insurmountable 3-0 advantage after three Tests.

Defeat will extend the English team's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes series defeat.

The current battle is set to be decided in just 11 days of play – after England fell the first two Tests in rapid time respectively.

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. The hosts have also won in eleven days on two other occasions in the modern era.

"It's disappointing," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and we're 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 difficult. They're a very, very good team. It was inevitably hard coming here against them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Pope's Place In Question

While the opener's innings in the third Test likely secures doubts about his immediate future in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.

Pope fell for 17 runs in the team's second knock on day four, extending his poor record versus Australia.

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

Only one other England player since 1900 – Amiss – has featured as many times in the top six in the Ashes and returned a lower average.

However, Crawley insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised originates with "you guys" – meaning the journalists – "and not within the team."

"We all know how good of a player he is," said he. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year to be frank."

"He has played some really good knocks. It is noise from the outside. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," he concluded.