Crawley Unaware of Stokes' Controversial 'Frail Characters' Comments

England opening batter Crawley suggested he was not familiar with statements made by skipper 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 defeat in the second match of the Ashes versus the Australians earlier this month.

Ahead of the third Test, where England are staring at a series loss with a match to spare, the captain noted he had let his sentiment to "drift around" within the playing group.

"I have completed all the talking in recent days that I needed to have done," said Stokes.

But, following Crawley scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he commented: "I didn't see that."

"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with a pinch of salt," he added.

Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging

The captain made the "fragile individuals" observation after his side suffered a loss in Brisbane to go two matches behind.

The England squad subsequently took a holiday to Noosa between the second and third Tests.

Before this match, he revealed his team had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay in contention in the Ashes battle.

Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the guidance from the captain and coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their previous three years in charge.

"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," noted Crawley. "It's on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with great liberty. We believed we could do something special going into this Test."

Australia Close of Historic Ashes Triumph

Crawley's wicket on day four was part of a crucial triple-strike by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

Lyon's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – left England 207-6 in pursuit of a notional total of 435 runs.

Consequently, the home team need just four more wickets on the final day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 lead with three matches played.

Defeat will extend the English team's winless run in Australia to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth successive away Ashes series loss.

The current battle will be completed in only 11 days of play – after England losing the initial matches in rapid time respectively.

Not since 1921, when Australia sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been determined so quickly. Australia have also triumphed in 11 days on two other occasions in the modern era.

"It's disappointing," said Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and we're facing elimination now."

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

"It's been tough. They're a very, very good side. It was always going to be tough coming here to face them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Pope's Position In Question

While Crawley's innings in the third Test probably answers questions about his immediate future in the side, Pope appears under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.

Pope fell for 17 in England's second knock on Saturday, extending his modest returns against the old enemy.

Across 16 Ashes innings, Pope has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of 17.62.

Only one other England player since 1900 – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average.

But, Crawley insisted any notion his teammate is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – referring to the press – "not inside the camp."

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

"He has played some really good knocks. This is noise externally. There is no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley finished.