Zak Crawley Unaware of Stokes' Provocative 'Frail Characters' Comments

England opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by skipper Stokes regarding the dressing room not being "those lacking fortitude".

The all-rounder made those words in several interviews following England's defeat in the second Ashes versus the Australians earlier this month.

Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where the visitors now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, Stokes stated he had allowed his message to "drift around" within the squad.

"I have completed the necessary discussions over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked the England leader.

However, following Crawley scored 85 on the fourth day in the third Test, he stated: "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 a pinch of salt," he added.

Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging

Stokes issued his "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to his side were beaten in Brisbane to fall two matches behind.

The England squad afterwards went on a holiday to a Queensland resort between the second and third matches.

Prior to the Adelaide contest, Stokes said his players had held "raw" talks and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain alive in the Ashes battle.

Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the guidance from the captain and head coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior three years in charge.

"It's been extremely upbeat, the same as always," noted Crawley. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with great liberty. We believed we were capable of an extraordinary feat entering this Test."

Australia Close of Historic Ashes Triumph

The opener's wicket on day four came during a decisive triple-strike by Australian spinner Lyon.

Lyon's three wickets in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England 207-6 in pursuit of a daunting total of 435 runs.

This means, Australia require four wickets on Sunday's last day to secure an unassailable three-nil advantage with three Tests.

A loss would prolong the English team's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth straight away Ashes loss.

The current battle will be completed in just 11 days of cricket – with England losing the first two Tests in two and four days respectively.

Not since 1921, when the Australians completed a series win in England in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been determined so quickly. The hosts have also won in 11 days on two other occasions in the 21st century.

"This is disheartening," admitted the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination now."

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

"It's been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was always going to be tough coming here against them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Ollie Pope's Place In Question

Although the opener's innings in Adelaide probably answers doubts about his short-term future in the England team, Ollie Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.

The Surrey batsman fell for 17 in England's second knock on Saturday, adding to his modest returns versus the old enemy.

Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and averages just 17.62.

A solitary other English batsman in over a century – Amiss – has played as many times in the top order in the Ashes and recorded a poorer average.

However, Crawley said any suggestion his teammate is under the microscope comes from "the media" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."

"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year to be frank."

"He has played several excellent innings. It is noise externally. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," he concluded.