England opener Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments from skipper Ben Stokes regarding the dressing room not being "those lacking fortitude".
The all-rounder delivered those words in multiple interviews in the wake of England's loss in the second Ashes against the Australians earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where England now face defeat with a match to spare, Stokes noted he had let his message to "drift around" among the squad.
"I've done the necessary discussions in recent days that I needed to have done," remarked the England leader.
But, after the opener made a knock of 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, he commented: "I missed those remarks."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take anything stated in the media with a pinch of salt," he added.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain issued his "weak men" comment subsequent to England were beaten in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The England squad subsequently took a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before the Adelaide contest, Stokes revealed his players had held "honest" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain alive in the series.
Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the guidance from the captain and head coach McCullum had remained in line with their previous tenure in charge.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. It felt like we could do something special entering 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 triple strike in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side 207-6 in pursuit of a notional target of 435 runs.
This means, Australia need just four more wickets on the last day to secure an unassailable three-nil advantage after three Tests.
Defeat would prolong England's drought in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive overseas Ashes series defeat.
The current battle is set to be decided in only eleven days of cricket – after England fell the first two Tests in rapid time each.
Not since 1921, when Australia sealed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided so quickly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.
"This is disheartening," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There remains 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 inevitably tough coming here against them. They entered as the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Position In Question
Although Crawley's performance in Adelaide likely secures doubts about his short-term place in the England team, Pope looks under threat for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 in England's second innings on day four, extending his poor record versus Australia.
In sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has failed to score a half-century and averages just 17.62.
Only one other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top six in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
However, Crawley said any notion Pope is under the microscope comes from "the media" – referring to the press – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," added he. "He has had a good year if I'm honest."
"He has played several excellent innings. This is noise externally. There's no discussion like that on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley finished.