England opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments made by captain Ben Stokes about the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
Stokes made those words in several interviews following England's defeat in the second Ashes against Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the third Test, where England are staring at defeat with a match to spare, the captain noted he had allowed his message to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I've done the necessary discussions in recent days that I required," remarked the England leader.
However, after the opener made a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he commented: "I missed those remarks."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," he added.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
Stokes made the "fragile individuals" observation after England suffered a loss in Brisbane to fall two matches behind.
The team subsequently took a holiday to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.
Prior to this match, Stokes said his players had held "honest" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their effort to remain alive in the Ashes battle.
Yet, Crawley stated the messaging from the captain and coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior tenure in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said Crawley. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat entering this Test."
Australia Close of Historic Ashes Triumph
Crawley's dismissal late on Saturday came during a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – he also bowled Brook and Stokes himself – meant England six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional target of 435.
This means, Australia need four wickets on Sunday's final day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 advantage with three matches played.
A loss would prolong the English team's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes series loss.
This series is set to be decided in just 11 days of play – after England losing the initial matches in rapid time respectively.
Not since 1921, when Australia completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the urn been determined so quickly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"This is disappointing," admitted Crawley. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination now."
"There will still be plenty to play for and we will definitely view it like that," he continued.
"The challenge has been tough. Australia is a very, very good team. It was inevitably tough coming here to face them. They were the favourites and they've proven why."
Pope's Position In Question
While Crawley's performance in the third Test likely secures questions about his short-term place in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 in England's second innings on Saturday, adding to his modest returns versus the old enemy.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a half-century and boasts an average of just 17.62.
Only one other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played as many times in the top six in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
However, Crawley insisted any suggestion his teammate is under the microscope comes from "you guys" – meaning the press – "and not within the team."
"We all know of his considerable talent," said Crawley. "He has had a good year to be frank."
"He has played several excellent innings. It is talk externally. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley concluded.
