Crawley Claims Ignorance of Captain Stokes' Controversial 'Weak Men' Comments

The English opening batter Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of statements made by captain Ben Stokes regarding the dressing room not being "those lacking fortitude".

The all-rounder delivered those words in several interviews in the wake of his team's loss in the second Ashes versus the Australians previously.

Ahead of the third Test, where England are staring at defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain stated he had let his message to "drift around" within the squad.

"I've done all the talking in recent days that I needed to have done," remarked Stokes.

However, after Crawley scored a knock of 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, he stated: "I missed those remarks."

"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the press with some skepticism," Crawley continued.

Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging

The captain issued his "weak men" comment after his side suffered a loss in Brisbane to go 2-0 down.

The England squad afterwards went on a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and third Tests.

Prior to the Adelaide contest, he said his team had held "honest" talks and he had urged them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to remain alive in the Ashes battle.

Yet, the Kent batsman asserted the messaging from Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum had stayed in line with their previous three years in leadership.

"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," noted the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. It felt like we could do something special going into this Test."

Australia Close of Historic Series Victory

The opener's wicket on day four came during a crucial three-wicket burst by Australian spinner Nathan Lyon.

The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England 207-6 in pursuit of a daunting total of 435.

This means, the home team need just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage after three Tests.

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

The current battle will be completed in only 11 days of play – after England losing the first two Tests in two and four days respectively.

The last time 1921, when the Australians completed victory in England in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been determined more swiftly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.

"This is disappointing," said Crawley. "We came here to regain the Ashes and we're facing elimination at this point."

"There remains significant pride at stake and we'll certainly approach it like that," Crawley added.

"The challenge has been tough. Australia is a very, very good side. It was inevitably hard coming here against them. They entered as the favourites coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."

Pope's Place Under Scrutiny

While the opener's innings in Adelaide probably answers doubts about his immediate place in the England team, Pope appears under threat for his position in the fourth Test on Boxing Day.

The Surrey batsman fell for 17 runs in England's second innings on Saturday, extending his modest returns against Australia.

Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has never made a half-century and boasts an average of 17.62.

A solitary other England player since 1900 – Amiss – has featured as many times in the top order in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.

However, Crawley said any notion his teammate is being scrutinised originates with "you guys" – referring to the press – "and not within the team."

"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "He has had a good year to be frank."

"He has played some really good knocks. It is noise from the outside. There's no discussion like that on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley concluded.