Crawley Claims Ignorance of Captain Stokes' Provocative 'Weak Men' Comments

The English opening batter Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments made by captain Ben Stokes about the team environment not being "weak men".

Stokes delivered those words in multiple interviews in the wake of England's defeat in the second Ashes against the Australians earlier this month.

In the lead-up to the third Test, where the visitors now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain noted he had let his message to "drift around" within the squad.

"I've done all the talking over the past two days that I required," remarked the England leader.

However, after the opener made 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he stated: "I missed those remarks."

"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the press with a pinch of salt," he added.

Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging

Stokes made the "fragile individuals" comment after England suffered a loss in the second Test to go two matches behind.

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

Prior to the Adelaide contest, he revealed his team had held "honest" conversations and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to stay in contention in the series.

Nevertheless, Crawley stated the messaging from the captain and coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their previous tenure in leadership.

"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat entering this Test."

Australia On the Verge of Rapid Ashes Triumph

The opener's wicket late on Saturday came during a crucial triple-strike by Australian off-spinner Lyon.

The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side 207-6 chasing a daunting target of 435.

This means, Australia require just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an unassailable three-nil advantage after three Tests.

Defeat would prolong the English team's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes series loss.

The current battle is set to be decided in just 11 days of cricket – with England fell the initial matches in two and four days each.

The last time 1921, when the Australians completed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been determined so quickly. The hosts have also triumphed in 11 days on two other occasions in the modern era.

"This is disheartening," said the batsman. "We came here to win the Ashes and we're staring down the barrel now."

"There will still be significant pride at stake and we'll certainly approach it with that mindset," Crawley added.

"It's been difficult. Australia is a very, very good side. It was always going to be hard touring here to face them. They entered as the favourites and they've proven why."

Pope's Position In Question

While the opener's performance in Adelaide probably answers doubts about his immediate future in the side, Ollie Pope looks under threat for his spot in the fourth Test on Boxing Day.

Pope fell for 17 runs in the team's second knock on Saturday, extending his modest returns against Australia.

Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a half-century and averages just 17.62.

Only one other England player in over a century – Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and recorded a lower average.

However, the opener said any suggestion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – meaning the journalists – "and not within the team."

"We all know of his considerable talent," said he. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year to be frank."

"He has played some really good knocks. It is talk externally. There's no discussion of that nature regarding Pope amongst the players," Crawley concluded.