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

The English opener Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments from skipper Ben Stokes regarding the team environment not being "weak men".

Stokes delivered this message in several conversations following his team's loss in the second Ashes series versus the Australians earlier this month.

Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England are staring at a series loss with a match to spare, Stokes noted he had allowed his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the squad.

"I have completed the necessary discussions in recent days that I required," remarked the England leader.

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

"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. We take everything that is said in the press with a pinch of salt," he added.

Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging

The captain issued his "weak men" observation subsequent to England were beaten in the second Test to fall two matches behind.

The team afterwards went on a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests.

Before this match, Stokes said his players had held "honest" conversations and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain alive in the Ashes battle.

Nevertheless, the Kent batsman stated the guidance from Stokes and coach McCullum had remained consistent with their prior tenure in leadership.

"The atmosphere has been very positive, unchanged," said Crawley. "It's just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."

The Hosts Close of Historic Ashes Triumph

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

The spinner's triple strike in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side 207-6 chasing a daunting total of 435.

This means, the home team require four wickets on the final day to move to an unassailable 3-0 lead after three matches played.

Defeat will extend England's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth successive overseas Ashes loss.

The current battle is set to be decided in only eleven days of play – with England losing the first two Tests in rapid time each.

The last time 1921, when Australia completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided more swiftly. The hosts have also triumphed in eleven days on two other occasions in the modern era.

"It's disheartening," said Crawley. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."

"There remains plenty to play for and we will definitely view it with that mindset," he continued.

"It's been tough. Australia is a formidable team. It was inevitably tough coming here against them. They were the favourites coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Pope's Place In Question

While the opener's innings in Adelaide probably answers doubts about his immediate future in the side, Pope looks under threat for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.

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

In 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and averages just 17.62.

A solitary other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top six in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average.

But, Crawley said any notion his teammate is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – meaning the press – "not inside the camp."

"We all know how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "He has had a productive year to be frank."

"He has played several excellent innings. This is noise externally. There is no chat like that regarding Pope amongst the players," Crawley finished.