England opener Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments from captain Ben Stokes regarding the dressing room not being "weak men".
Stokes made this message in several conversations in the wake of his team's defeat in the second Ashes series versus Australia previously.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where England now face a series loss at the earliest opportunity, the captain stated he had allowed his message to "drift around" among the squad.
"I've done all the talking in recent days that I needed to have done," said Stokes.
However, following Crawley scored 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he commented: "I didn't see that."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain issued his "weak men" observation after his side suffered a loss in the second Test to go two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards took a holiday to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Before the Adelaide contest, Stokes said his players had held "raw" talks and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to remain in contention in the series.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman asserted the guidance from Stokes and coach McCullum had remained consistent with their previous three years in charge.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, the same as always," said the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we were capable of an extraordinary feat entering this game."
Australia Close of Historic Series Victory
The opener's wicket on day four came during a crucial three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Stokes himself – left England 207-6 chasing a daunting target of 435.
This means, Australia require just four more wickets on the last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage with three matches played.
Defeat would prolong the English team's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth successive away Ashes series defeat.
This series is set to be decided in only eleven days of play – after England fell the first two Tests in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when Australia completed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided so quickly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.
"It's disheartening," admitted the batsman. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel now."
"There remains plenty to play for and we'll certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"The challenge has been difficult. They're a very, very good team. It was always going to be hard touring here against them. They were the favourites and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
Although the opener's performance in Adelaide probably answers doubts about his short-term place in the England team, Ollie Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope was out for 17 in England's second innings on day four, extending his poor record against Australia.
In sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and averages 17.62.
Only one other England player in over a century – Amiss – has featured as many times in the top order in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.
However, the opener said any notion Pope is under the microscope originates with "you guys" – meaning the journalists – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. This is noise externally. There's no chat like that on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley finished.
