England opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments from skipper Stokes regarding the dressing room as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
Stokes delivered those words in several interviews following his team's loss in the second match of the Ashes versus Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where the visitors now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, Stokes noted he had let his message to "drift around" within the playing group.
"I've done the necessary discussions over the past two days that I needed to have done," said Stokes.
But, after Crawley scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he commented: "I didn't see that."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. We take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," he added.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
The captain issued his "weak men" comment after England suffered a loss in the second Test to go two matches behind.
The team subsequently took a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before this match, he said his team had held "raw" talks and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their battle to stay alive in the series.
Yet, the Kent batsman asserted the guidance from the captain and head coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior three years in leadership.
"It's been very positive, the same as always," noted Crawley. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with great liberty. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."
The Hosts On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory
Crawley's dismissal on day four was part of a decisive three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England 207-6 in pursuit of a notional target of 435 runs.
Consequently, the home team require four wickets on the last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage after three matches played.
A loss will extend England's winless run in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth straight away Ashes loss.
This series will be completed in only 11 days of play – after England fell the initial matches in two and four days each.
Not since 1921, when Australia sealed victory in England 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.
"It's disheartening," said Crawley. "We came here to regain the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it with that mindset," Crawley added.
"The challenge has been tough. They're a formidable side. It was inevitably tough coming here against them. They entered as the favourites and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place In Question
Although Crawley's performance in Adelaide probably answers doubts about his immediate place in the side, Ollie Pope appears under threat for his position in the fourth Test on Boxing Day.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 runs in the team's second innings on Saturday, extending his poor record versus the old enemy.
Across 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has never made a fifty and boasts an average of just 17.62.
Only one other England player since 1900 – Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top six in the Ashes and recorded a lower average.
But, the opener insisted any notion his teammate is being scrutinised originates with "the media" – meaning the journalists – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "He has had a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has played several excellent innings. This is talk from the outside. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley finished.
