England opener Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with statements made by skipper Ben Stokes about the dressing room not being "weak men".
The all-rounder delivered this message in multiple interviews in the wake of England's defeat in the second match of the Ashes series versus Australia previously.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where England now face a series loss at the earliest opportunity, Stokes stated he had allowed his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I have completed the necessary discussions in recent days that I needed to have done," remarked the England leader.
However, following Crawley scored 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. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," he added.
Raw Conversations and Steady Philosophy
The captain made the "weak men" comment subsequent to England suffered a loss in the second Test to fall two matches behind.
The England squad subsequently took a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before the Adelaide contest, he revealed his team had held "honest" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their effort to remain in contention in the Ashes battle.
Nevertheless, Crawley stated the guidance from the captain and coach McCullum had stayed in line with their previous three years in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said the opener. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with lots of freedom. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat entering this game."
Australia On the Verge of Historic Ashes Triumph
Crawley's wicket on day four came during a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Brook and Ben Stokes – left 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 move to an insurmountable 3-0 lead with three matches played.
Defeat will extend the English team's drought in this country to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth successive away Ashes series defeat.
The current battle is set to be decided in only 11 days of cricket – after England fell the initial matches in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when Australia sealed victory in England in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also won in 11 days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"This is disappointing," said 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 with that mindset," Crawley added.
"It's been tough. They're a very, very good team. It was always going to be hard coming here to face them. They entered as the favourites coming in to it they've proven why."
Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
Although Crawley's performance in the third Test likely secures questions about his short-term future in the England team, Pope looks under threat for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope fell for 17 runs in England's second innings on Saturday, extending his modest returns versus the old enemy.
In 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has never made a half-century and averages 17.62.
Only one other English batsman in over a century – Amiss – has featured as many times in the top six in Ashes Tests and recorded a lower average.
But, Crawley 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 of his considerable talent," added Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year to be frank."
"He has played several excellent innings. This is noise externally. There's no discussion like that regarding Pope in the camp," he finished.
