England opener Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with statements made by skipper Stokes regarding the team environment as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
Stokes delivered those words in multiple conversations in the wake of England's loss in the second Ashes versus the Australians previously.
Ahead of the third Test, where the visitors are staring at defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain noted he had allowed his message to "circulate freely" within the playing group.
"I've done the necessary discussions in recent days that I needed to have done," said Stokes.
However, after Crawley scored 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, he commented: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with some skepticism," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
The captain issued his "fragile individuals" observation after his side suffered a loss in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The team afterwards took a break to Noosa between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Before the Adelaide contest, he revealed his players had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to remain in contention in the Ashes battle.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman asserted the messaging from Stokes and coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior three years in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, unchanged," noted the opener. "It's just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat entering this game."
Australia On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory
The opener's wicket late on Saturday was part of a crucial triple-strike 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.
Consequently, the home team need four wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage after three matches played.
Defeat would prolong England's drought in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive overseas Ashes series defeat.
The current battle will be completed in only eleven days of cricket – with England fell the first two Tests in rapid time each.
The last time 1921, when Australia completed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been determined so quickly. The hosts have also won in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," admitted Crawley. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we'll definitely view it like that," he continued.
"The challenge has been tough. They're a very, very good team. It was inevitably hard touring here to face them. They were the favourites coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Position In Question
While the opener's innings in Adelaide likely secures doubts about his immediate future in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope fell for 17 runs in England's second innings on day four, extending his modest returns against the old enemy.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has never made a fifty and averages 17.62.
Only one other England player since 1900 – Amiss – has played as many times in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average.
But, the opener insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – meaning 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 to be frank."
"He has played several excellent innings. It is noise externally. There is no chat of that nature regarding Pope in the camp," Crawley concluded.
