Zak Crawley Claims Ignorance of Captain Stokes' Controversial 'Frail Characters' Comments

England opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments from skipper Stokes about the team environment as no place for "weak men".

Stokes made those words in several interviews following England's loss in the second Ashes versus Australia earlier this month.

In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where the visitors now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, Stokes noted he had let his sentiment to "drift around" among the playing group.

"I have completed all the talking in recent days that I required," remarked Stokes.

But, following the opener made a knock of 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 some skepticism," he added.

Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging

Stokes issued his "weak men" comment after England were beaten in the second Test to go 2-0 down.

The team subsequently took a break to Noosa between the second and the upcoming Tests.

Prior to this match, Stokes said his players had held "honest" talks and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their battle to stay alive in the Ashes battle.

Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the messaging from the captain and coach Brendon McCullum had stayed in line with their previous three years in leadership.

"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said Crawley. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do something special going into this game."

Australia Close of Historic Ashes Triumph

Crawley's dismissal late on Saturday was part of a decisive triple-strike by Australian spinner Nathan Lyon.

The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a notional total of 435 runs.

Consequently, the home team require just four more wickets on the last day to move to an unassailable 3-0 lead after three matches played.

Defeat would prolong the English team's winless run in this country to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth straight away Ashes series defeat.

The current battle is set to be decided in only 11 days of play – after England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.

Not since 1921, when the Australians completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.

"It's disheartening," admitted the batsman. "We came here to regain the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."

"There remains significant pride at stake and we'll definitely view it like that," he continued.

"The challenge has been tough. Australia is a formidable side. It was inevitably hard coming here against them. They were the favourites and they've proven why."

Pope's Position In Question

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

Pope fell for 17 in the team's second innings on Saturday, extending his poor record against Australia.

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

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

But, the opener insisted any suggestion his teammate is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."

"We all know of his considerable talent," added he. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year if I'm honest."

"He has played some really good knocks. This is talk externally. There is no chat like that on Ollie in the camp," Crawley concluded.