The English opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of statements made by captain Ben Stokes regarding the team environment not being "weak men".
Stokes delivered this message in multiple interviews following England's defeat in the second match of the Ashes versus Australia previously.
Ahead of the third Test, where England are staring at a series loss with a match to spare, the captain stated he had let his message to "drift around" among the playing group.
"I've done all the talking in recent days that I needed to have done," remarked the England leader.
However, after the opener made a knock of 85 on the fourth day in the third Test, he commented: "I missed those remarks."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with some skepticism," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
The captain made the "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to his side suffered a loss in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The England squad subsequently took a holiday to a Queensland resort between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before the Adelaide contest, Stokes revealed his players had held "raw" talks and he had urged them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to stay alive in the series.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman stated the messaging from the captain and head coach Brendon McCullum had remained consistent with their previous tenure in charge.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, the same as always," noted the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with great liberty. We believed we could do something special entering this game."
The Hosts On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory
Crawley's wicket on day four came during a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a daunting total of 435 runs.
This means, Australia need four wickets on the final day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 lead after three matches played.
A loss will extend 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 is set to be decided in just 11 days of cricket – after England losing the initial matches 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 decided more swiftly. Australia have also won in 11 days on two other instances in the modern era.
"It's disheartening," admitted Crawley. "We came here to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we'll definitely view it with that mindset," he continued.
"It's been tough. They're a formidable team. It was always going to be hard touring here against them. They were the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Position In Question
Although Crawley's performance in the third Test probably answers doubts about his immediate future in the England team, Ollie Pope looks under threat for his spot in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
Pope fell for 17 runs in the team's second knock on Saturday, adding to his modest returns versus Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has never made a fifty and averages just 17.62.
Only one other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played as many times in the top order in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
But, the opener said any suggestion Pope is under the microscope comes from "you guys" – referring to the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"We all know of his considerable talent," added Crawley. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. It is noise externally. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," he concluded.
