Zak Crawley Unaware of Captain Stokes' Controversial 'Frail Characters' Remarks
The English opening batter Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of comments made by captain Stokes about the team environment as no place for "weak men".
Stokes made those words in multiple conversations in the wake of England's defeat in the second Ashes series against Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the third Test, where the visitors now face a series loss with a match to spare, Stokes noted he had let his sentiment to "drift around" among the playing group.
"I have completed the necessary discussions in recent days that I needed to have done," said Stokes.
But, after Crawley scored 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 everything that is said in the press with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
The captain made the "fragile individuals" comment subsequent to England suffered a loss in Brisbane to fall two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards took a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Prior to this match, Stokes revealed his players had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to stay alive in the series.
Yet, the Kent batsman stated the messaging from the captain and head coach McCullum had stayed consistent with their previous three years in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said Crawley. "It's just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with great liberty. We believed we could do something special going into this Test."
The Hosts On the Verge of Historic Ashes Triumph
Crawley's wicket late on Saturday came during a crucial three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – including the wickets of Brook and Ben Stokes – left England six down for 207 in pursuit of a daunting total of 435 runs.
This means, Australia require four wickets on the last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage after three Tests.
Defeat would prolong the English team's winless run in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive away Ashes loss.
The current battle will be completed in just 11 days of play – with England losing the first two Tests in rapid time each.
Not since 1921, when Australia completed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"This is disheartening," said the batsman. "We came here to regain the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There will still be plenty to play for and we'll definitely view it like that," Crawley added.
"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was always going to be tough touring here to face them. They were the front-runners coming in to it they've proven why."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
Although the opener's performance in the third Test probably answers questions about his short-term future in the side, Pope appears under threat for his spot in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
Pope was out for 17 in the team's second innings on Saturday, adding to his poor record against the old enemy.
Across 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has never made a half-century and averages just 17.62.
Only one other England player in over a century – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
However, Crawley said any notion Pope is being scrutinised originates with "the media" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"We all know how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "He has had a good year to be frank."
"He has played some really good knocks. It is noise externally. There's no discussion of that nature regarding Pope in the camp," he finished.
