The English opener Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by skipper Stokes about the team environment as no place for "weak men".
The all-rounder delivered this message in several interviews following England's loss in the second Ashes series versus Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where England 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 over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked Stokes.
However, following the opener scored a knock of 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, 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," Crawley continued.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "fragile individuals" comment subsequent to England were beaten in the second Test to fall two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards went on a holiday to a Queensland resort between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before the Adelaide contest, he revealed his team had held "raw" talks and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their effort to remain in contention in the series.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman asserted the messaging from Stokes and head coach McCullum had stayed consistent with their prior three years in charge.
"The atmosphere has been very positive, the same as always," said Crawley. "It's just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."
Australia On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory
The opener's wicket on day four was part of a crucial three-wicket burst by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant the chasing side six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional total of 435.
Consequently, Australia require four wickets on Sunday's final day to secure an unassailable 3-0 lead after three Tests.
Defeat would prolong England's drought in Australia to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes defeat.
This series is set to be decided in only 11 days of cricket – after England fell the initial matches in two and four days respectively.
Not since 1921, when the Australians completed victory in England in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in 11 days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"This is disheartening," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel now."
"There remains plenty to play for and we will certainly approach it like that," Crawley added.
"It's been difficult. They're a formidable team. It was inevitably tough coming here to face them. They were the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
While the opener's innings in Adelaide probably answers questions about his short-term place in the side, Ollie Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in England's second knock on day four, adding to his poor record versus the old enemy.
Across 16 Ashes innings, Pope has failed to score a fifty and boasts an average of 17.62.
Only one other England player since 1900 – Dennis Amiss – has featured as many times in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average.
However, the opener insisted any suggestion Pope is being scrutinised originates with "the media" – referring to the journalists – "and not within the team."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has played several excellent innings. This is noise externally. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie in the camp," he concluded.
