Zak Crawley Unaware of Captain Stokes' Controversial 'Weak Men' Comments

England opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments made by skipper Stokes about the team environment as no place for "weak men".

Stokes delivered those words in several interviews following England's defeat in the second match of the Ashes series versus Australia earlier this month.

Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England are staring at a series loss at the earliest opportunity, the captain stated he had let his message to "circulate freely" among the playing group.

"I've done the necessary discussions over the past two days that I required," said the England leader.

But, following Crawley scored 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 media with some skepticism," Crawley continued.

Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging

Stokes made the "fragile individuals" comment subsequent to his side suffered a loss in the second Test to go two matches behind.

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

Prior to this match, Stokes said his players had held "raw" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay alive in the series.

Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the messaging from Stokes and head coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior three years in leadership.

"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said Crawley. "It's just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with great liberty. It felt like we could do something special going into this game."

Australia On the Verge of Historic Ashes Triumph

The opener's dismissal on day four was part of a crucial three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

Lyon's triple strike in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a daunting target of 435.

This means, the home team need just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to secure an insurmountable three-nil lead after three Tests.

A loss will extend England's winless run in this country to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth straight overseas Ashes series defeat.

This series is set to be decided in only eleven days of play – after England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.

The last time 1921, when Australia completed a series win in England in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in 11 days on two other occasions in the 21st century.

"It's disappointing," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and we're staring down the barrel at this point."

"There will still be significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it like that," Crawley added.

"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was always going to be hard coming here to face them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Pope's Place In Question

While Crawley's innings in Adelaide likely secures questions about his immediate place in the England team, Pope looks under threat for his spot in the fourth Test on Boxing Day.

Pope was out for 17 runs in England's second knock on day four, extending his poor record versus Australia.

Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of just 17.62.

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

But, the opener said any notion Pope is under the microscope originates with "the media" – referring to the journalists – "and not within the team."

"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "He has had a productive year if I'm honest."

"He has played several excellent innings. It is noise externally. There is no discussion like that regarding Pope in the camp," Crawley concluded.