The English opener Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by captain Ben Stokes about the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
The all-rounder made those words in several conversations following his team's loss in the second match of the Ashes versus Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where England are staring at defeat with a match to spare, the captain noted he had allowed his message to "circulate freely" within the playing group.
"I have completed the necessary discussions over the past two days that I required," said the England leader.
However, following Crawley made a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the press with some skepticism," he added.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
Stokes issued his "fragile individuals" comment after England were beaten in Brisbane to go two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards took a holiday to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Before the Adelaide contest, he said his players had held "honest" talks and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to stay in contention in the Ashes battle.
Yet, Crawley asserted the guidance from the captain and coach McCullum had remained consistent with their prior three years in charge.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," noted the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we were capable of an extraordinary feat entering this Test."
Australia Close of Historic Ashes Triumph
The opener's dismissal on day four was part of a crucial triple-strike by Australian spinner Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Stokes himself – meant the chasing side 207-6 chasing a daunting total of 435 runs.
This means, the home team need just four more wickets on the final day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 advantage after three matches played.
Defeat will extend the English team's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth straight away Ashes defeat.
This series will be completed in only 11 days of cricket – with England fell the initial matches in two and four days each.
Not since 1921, when the Australians sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other occasions in the modern era.
"This is disheartening," admitted Crawley. "We came here to regain the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel now."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we will definitely view it with that mindset," Crawley added.
"It's been difficult. They're a very, very good team. It was inevitably hard coming here to face them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's innings in Adelaide probably answers questions about his short-term future in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in England's second innings on Saturday, extending his poor record versus the old enemy.
In 16 Ashes innings, Pope has never made a half-century and averages just 17.62.
Only one other England player since 1900 – Dennis Amiss – has played as many times in the top order in the Ashes and recorded a lower average.
However, the opener insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – referring to the journalists – "and not within the team."
"We all know of his considerable talent," said Crawley. "He has had a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has played several excellent innings. It is noise from the outside. There's no discussion like that on Ollie in the camp," he finished.
