England opening batter Zak Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of comments from skipper Stokes regarding the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
Stokes delivered this message in multiple conversations following England's defeat in the second Ashes series against Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the third Test, where England are staring at defeat at the earliest opportunity, Stokes stated he had allowed his sentiment 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, after Crawley made a knock of 85 on the fourth day in the third Test, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"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.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
Stokes made the "weak men" comment after his side suffered a loss in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The England squad afterwards went on a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Before the Adelaide contest, he said his players had held "raw" talks and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay alive in the series.
Yet, Crawley asserted the guidance from the captain and coach McCullum had remained in line with their previous three years in charge.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, unchanged," noted the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we were capable of something special entering this game."
The Hosts On the Verge of Historic Ashes Triumph
The opener's dismissal on day four came during a crucial triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a daunting target of 435 runs.
This means, Australia require four wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an unassailable 3-0 lead after three matches played.
A loss will extend the English team's drought in this country to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth straight away Ashes series defeat.
This series is set to be decided in just 11 days of cricket – with England fell the first two Tests in two and four days each.
Not since 1921, when the Australians sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.
"This is disheartening," said Crawley. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and we're staring down the barrel now."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it with that mindset," he continued.
"It's been tough. Australia is a formidable team. It was always going to be hard coming here to face them. They were the favourites and have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
Although Crawley's performance in the third Test probably answers questions about his short-term future in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the fourth Test on Boxing Day.
Pope was out for 17 in the team's second innings on day four, extending his modest returns versus the old enemy.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a half-century and averages just 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has played as many times in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
However, the opener insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – referring to the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware of his considerable talent," said Crawley. "He has had a good year to be frank."
"He has played some really good knocks. This is noise externally. There's no chat like that regarding Pope in the camp," Crawley finished.
