Zak Crawley Claims Ignorance of Stokes' Controversial 'Weak Men' Remarks

The English opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments from skipper Ben Stokes regarding the dressing room not being "those lacking fortitude".

The all-rounder delivered those words in multiple conversations following his team's loss in the second match of the Ashes series versus Australia earlier this month.

Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England are staring at defeat with a match to spare, Stokes noted he had let his message to "drift around" among the squad.

"I've done all the talking over the past two days that I needed to have done," said the England leader.

But, following Crawley scored 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he commented: "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," Crawley continued.

Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging

The captain issued his "fragile individuals" observation after England were beaten in Brisbane to go 2-0 down.

The team afterwards took a holiday to a Queensland resort between the second and third matches.

Prior to this match, Stokes said his team had held "raw" conversations and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their effort to remain in contention in the Ashes battle.

Nevertheless, Crawley stated the guidance from the captain and head coach McCullum had remained consistent with their prior three years in leadership.

"The atmosphere has been very positive, unchanged," said the opener. "It's just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with lots of freedom. It felt like we were capable of something special going into this game."

Australia On the Verge of Rapid Ashes Triumph

The opener's wicket late on Saturday was part of a decisive triple-strike by Australia spinner Nathan Lyon.

Lyon's three wickets in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – meant the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a daunting target of 435.

This means, Australia need just four more wickets on Sunday's final day to move to an unassailable three-nil advantage after three matches played.

A loss would prolong England's winless run in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth straight away Ashes loss.

The current battle will be completed in only 11 days of play – with England losing the first two Tests in rapid time respectively.

The last time 1921, when Australia completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.

"It's disappointing," admitted the batsman. "We came here to regain the Ashes and we're facing elimination at this point."

"There will still be significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it like that," he continued.

"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a formidable side. It was inevitably hard touring here against them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Ollie Pope's Place In Question

Although Crawley's innings in Adelaide likely secures doubts about his short-term future in the side, Pope looks under threat for his spot in the fourth Test starting December 26th.

The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in the team's second innings on day four, extending his poor record versus Australia.

Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of just 17.62.

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

However, the opener insisted any suggestion Pope is under the microscope comes from "you guys" – referring to the journalists – "not inside the camp."

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

"He has produced some really good knocks. It is talk externally. There's no chat of that nature on Ollie in the camp," he finished.