The English opening batter Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by captain Stokes about the dressing room not being "those lacking fortitude".
Stokes made those words in multiple interviews following his team's defeat in the second match of the Ashes against Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at a series loss at the earliest opportunity, Stokes noted he had allowed 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," said Stokes.
But, following the opener made a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he commented: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. We take everything that is said in the media with some skepticism," Crawley continued.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to his side were beaten in Brisbane to go 2-0 down.
The England squad subsequently took a holiday to a Queensland resort between the second and third matches.
Before this match, he said his team had held "honest" conversations and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their battle to stay alive in the Ashes battle.
Yet, Crawley asserted the guidance from the captain and coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their prior three years in charge.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, unchanged," noted the opener. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."
The Hosts On the Verge of Historic Series Victory
Crawley's wicket on day four was part of a decisive triple-strike by Australia spinner Nathan Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in a short spell – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – left England 207-6 in pursuit of a daunting total of 435.
This means, Australia need four wickets on the last day to secure 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 successive away Ashes series defeat.
This series is set to be decided in just 11 days of play – with England losing the first two Tests in two and four days respectively.
The last time 1921, when the Australians sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided more swiftly. The hosts have also triumphed in 11 days on two other instances in the modern era.
"This is disappointing," said the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it like that," Crawley added.
"It's been tough. Australia is a very, very good side. It was always going to be tough coming here against them. They were the front-runners coming in to it they've proven why."
Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
Although the opener's performance in the third Test likely secures questions about his immediate future in the England team, Ollie Pope appears under immense pressure for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 runs in the team's second knock on Saturday, extending his modest returns versus Australia.
Across 16 Ashes innings, Pope has never made a fifty and averages just 17.62.
Only one other English batsman in over a century – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and recorded a poorer average.
But, Crawley insisted any suggestion Pope is under the microscope comes from "you guys" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"We all know how good of a player he is," said he. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. It is talk from the outside. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley concluded.
