Zak Crawley Claims Ignorance of Captain Stokes' Provocative 'Weak Men' Remarks
England opener Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments from skipper Ben Stokes about the dressing room as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
Stokes delivered those words in multiple conversations in the wake of England's loss in the second match of the Ashes versus the Australians previously.
In the lead-up to the third Test, where the visitors now face defeat with a match to spare, the captain noted he had allowed his message to "drift around" within the playing group.
"I have completed all the talking over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked Stokes.
However, after the opener made 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he commented: "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 media with some skepticism," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
Stokes issued his "weak men" comment subsequent to England suffered a loss in Brisbane to go two matches behind.
The England squad subsequently went on a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and third Tests.
Prior to the Adelaide contest, Stokes said his players had held "honest" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay in contention in the Ashes battle.
Nevertheless, Crawley stated the guidance from Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum had stayed in line with their prior tenure in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, the same as always," said the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do something special going into this game."
Australia On the Verge of Historic Series Victory
The opener's dismissal on day four came during a decisive triple-strike by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
Lyon's triple strike in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England 207-6 in pursuit of a notional total of 435.
This means, the home team require four wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage with three matches played.
A loss would prolong the English team's drought in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive away Ashes loss.
This series will be completed in just 11 days of cricket – after England losing the initial matches in rapid time respectively.
Not since 1921, when the Australians sealed victory in England in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been determined so quickly. Australia have also triumphed in 11 days on two other instances in the modern era.
"It's disappointing," said the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and we're staring down the barrel now."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it with that mindset," he continued.
"It's been difficult. They're a very, very good team. It was inevitably hard coming here to face them. They were the front-runners coming in to it they've proven why."
Ollie Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
Although Crawley's performance in the third Test probably answers doubts about his immediate place in the side, Ollie Pope looks under threat for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
Pope was out for 17 in England's second innings on day four, extending his modest returns versus Australia.
Across 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top order in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
However, the opener insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – referring to the journalists – "and not within the team."
"We all know of his considerable talent," added Crawley. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has played some really good knocks. This is noise from the outside. There's no chat of that nature regarding Pope amongst the players," Crawley concluded.
