Crawley Unaware of Captain Stokes' Controversial 'Weak Men' Comments
England opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by skipper Ben Stokes regarding the team environment not being "those lacking fortitude".
The all-rounder made those words in several interviews in the wake of England's defeat in the second Ashes versus Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where England now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain noted he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" within the squad.
"I've done all the talking over the past two days that I required," remarked the England leader.
However, following the opener scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate 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 press with a pinch of salt," he added.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "fragile individuals" observation after England suffered a loss in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The team afterwards went on a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and third Tests.
Prior to the Adelaide contest, he said his players had held "raw" talks and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to stay alive in the Ashes battle.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman stated the messaging from the captain and coach Brendon McCullum had stayed in line with their prior tenure in leadership.
"It's been very positive, unchanged," said Crawley. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we were capable of something special entering this game."
Australia On the Verge of Historic Series Victory
The opener's wicket late on Saturday was part of a decisive three-wicket burst by Australia spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England six down for 207 in pursuit of a daunting total of 435 runs.
Consequently, Australia require four wickets on Sunday's last day to secure an insurmountable three-nil lead after three matches played.
Defeat would prolong the English team's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth successive overseas Ashes series defeat.
This series will be completed in just eleven days of play – with England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when Australia sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the urn been determined more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," said Crawley. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There remains plenty to play for and we will definitely view it like that," Crawley added.
"It's been difficult. Australia is a very, very good side. It was inevitably tough touring here against them. They entered as the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's performance in Adelaide likely secures questions about his short-term place in the side, Ollie Pope looks under threat for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope was out for 17 runs in England's second knock on Saturday, extending his poor record against the old enemy.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of 17.62.
Only one other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played as many times in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
But, the opener said any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – referring to the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said he. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. This is noise from the outside. There is no discussion like that regarding Pope amongst the players," Crawley finished.
