The English opener Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by skipper Ben Stokes regarding the team environment not being "weak men".
The all-rounder delivered those words in several conversations following his team's loss in the second Ashes against the Australians previously.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at defeat with a match to spare, the captain noted he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I've done the necessary discussions in recent days that I needed to have done," remarked Stokes.
However, following Crawley scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the press with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
Stokes made the "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to England suffered a loss in Brisbane to go two matches behind.
The England squad subsequently went on a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before this match, Stokes revealed his players had held "raw" conversations and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain in contention in the series.
Nevertheless, Crawley stated the messaging from the captain and head coach McCullum had remained in line with their prior three years in charge.
"It's been very positive, unchanged," noted Crawley. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do something special entering this Test."
The Hosts On the Verge of Historic Series Victory
The opener's dismissal late on Saturday came during a crucial triple-strike by Australian spinner Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional target of 435 runs.
This means, the home team require just four more wickets on the last day to secure an unassailable 3-0 advantage with three matches played.
A loss will extend the English team's winless run in this country to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth straight away Ashes defeat.
The current battle will be completed in only eleven days of play – with England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when Australia completed a series win in England in eight days, has the destination of the urn been determined so quickly. The hosts have also won in 11 days on two other instances in the modern era.
"It's disappointing," admitted the batsman. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it with that mindset," he continued.
"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was inevitably tough touring here against them. They entered as the favourites and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's innings in Adelaide likely secures doubts about his immediate future in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope was out for 17 runs in England's second innings on Saturday, adding to his poor record versus Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and averages 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has played as many times in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
However, Crawley insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – meaning the press – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year to be frank."
"He has played several excellent innings. This is talk externally. There is no discussion like that regarding Pope amongst the players," Crawley concluded.
