Crawley Claims Ignorance of Captain Stokes' Provocative 'Frail Characters' Remarks
The English opening batter Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with statements made by captain Ben Stokes regarding the team environment not being "those lacking fortitude".
The all-rounder delivered those words in multiple interviews following England'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 with a match to spare, the captain stated he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" within the squad.
"I've done all the talking in recent days that I needed to have done," said Stokes.
However, after Crawley scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I missed those remarks."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the media with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
The captain made the "weak men" comment subsequent to England suffered a loss in the second Test to go two matches behind.
The team afterwards took a break to Noosa between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Prior to the Adelaide contest, he said his players had held "raw" talks and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to stay alive in the Ashes battle.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman asserted the messaging from Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum had stayed in line with their prior tenure in charge.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, the same as always," said the opener. "It's just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with great liberty. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."
The Hosts On the Verge of Historic Ashes Triumph
The opener's dismissal on day four came during a decisive three-wicket burst by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
Lyon's triple strike in a short spell – he also bowled Harry Brook and Stokes himself – meant England 207-6 in pursuit of a daunting total of 435.
This means, the home team need four wickets on Sunday's last day to secure an unassailable 3-0 advantage after three Tests.
Defeat would prolong England's drought in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive away Ashes loss.
This series will be completed in just eleven days of play – after England losing the first two Tests in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when the Australians sealed victory in England in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been decided more swiftly. The hosts have also triumphed in 11 days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," said Crawley. "We came here to win the Ashes and we're staring down the barrel now."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we'll definitely view it with that mindset," Crawley added.
"The challenge has been tough. They're a very, very good team. It was always going to be hard touring here against them. They entered as the favourites coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place In Question
While Crawley's performance in the third Test probably answers doubts about his immediate future in the side, Ollie Pope appears under threat for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
Pope fell for 17 runs in the team's second innings on Saturday, adding to his poor record versus the old enemy.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a half-century and averages 17.62.
Only one other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
However, the opener said any notion his teammate is under the microscope comes from "the media" – meaning the journalists – "and not within the team."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year if I'm honest."
"He has played several excellent innings. It is noise from the outside. There's no chat like that regarding Pope in the camp," he finished.