The English opening batter Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of comments made by skipper Ben Stokes regarding the dressing room as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
The all-rounder made this message in several interviews following his team's loss in the second Ashes versus Australia earlier this month.
Ahead of the third Test, where the visitors now face a series loss with a match to spare, the captain stated he had let his sentiment to "drift around" within the squad.
"I've done all the talking over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked Stokes.
But, after 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 some skepticism," he added.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
The captain issued his "fragile individuals" comment subsequent to his side suffered a loss in Brisbane to fall two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards went on a holiday to Noosa between the second and third Tests.
Before the Adelaide contest, he said his players had held "raw" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain alive in the Ashes battle.
Yet, Crawley stated the guidance from the captain and coach Brendon McCullum had remained consistent with their previous tenure in leadership.
"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do something special going into this Test."
Australia On the Verge of Historic Ashes Triumph
Crawley's wicket on day four was part of a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – left England 207-6 in pursuit of a daunting target of 435 runs.
This means, Australia require four wickets on Sunday's last day to secure an unassailable 3-0 advantage with three Tests.
Defeat would prolong England's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth straight overseas Ashes series loss.
This series will be completed in just eleven days of cricket – after England fell the first two Tests in two and four days respectively.
Not since 1921, when the Australians completed a series win in England in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been determined so quickly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"This is disheartening," said Crawley. "Our goal was 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 will certainly approach it with that mindset," he continued.
"It's been difficult. They're a formidable team. It was inevitably hard touring here to face them. They were the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's performance in the third Test probably answers questions about his short-term place in the England team, Pope looks under threat for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope fell for 17 runs in the team's second innings on day four, adding to his modest returns versus the old enemy.
Across 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has featured as many times in the top order in Ashes Tests and recorded a poorer average.
However, the opener insisted any notion his teammate is under the microscope originates with "the media" – referring to the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"We all know how good of a player he is," added he. "He has had a good year to be frank."
"He has played several excellent innings. This is talk externally. There is no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," he finished.
