Crawley Claims Ignorance of Captain Stokes' Provocative 'Weak Men' Comments
The English opening batter Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with statements made by skipper Ben Stokes regarding the dressing room not being "weak men".
Stokes delivered this message in multiple conversations in the wake of his team's defeat in the second Ashes series versus Australia previously.
Ahead of the third Test, where England now face a series loss with a match to spare, Stokes noted he had let his message to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I've done the necessary discussions over the past two days that I needed to have done," said the England leader.
But, following the opener scored 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I missed those remarks."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
Stokes issued his "weak men" comment subsequent to England were beaten in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The team afterwards went on a holiday to Noosa between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Before the Adelaide contest, he said his players had held "honest" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain in contention in the series.
Nevertheless, Crawley stated the messaging from Stokes and head coach McCullum had remained in line with their previous three years in charge.
"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said the opener. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we were capable of an extraordinary feat going into this game."
The Hosts Close of Historic Ashes Triumph
The opener's dismissal late on Saturday came during a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Brook and Ben Stokes – meant the chasing side 207-6 chasing a daunting total of 435 runs.
This means, the home team require just four more wickets on Sunday's final day to move to an insurmountable 3-0 advantage with three matches played.
A loss would prolong England's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive away Ashes series defeat.
The current battle is set to be decided in only 11 days of play – with England fell the first two Tests in rapid time each.
The last time 1921, when the Australians sealed a series win in England in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been determined more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in 11 days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"It's disappointing," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we'll definitely view it like that," Crawley added.
"The challenge has been tough. Australia is a very, very good side. It was inevitably hard touring here against them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's innings in Adelaide likely secures questions about his immediate future in the England team, Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
Pope fell for 17 in England's second innings on Saturday, extending his poor record against Australia.
In sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and averages just 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
However, the opener insisted any notion his teammate is under the microscope originates with "the media" – referring to the press – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year if I'm honest."
"He has produced several excellent innings. This is talk from the outside. There is no discussion like that on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley concluded.
