The English opener Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of comments made by skipper Ben Stokes about the team environment as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
Stokes made this message in several conversations in the wake of England's defeat in the second match of the Ashes against Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where England now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, the captain noted he had let his sentiment to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I've done all the talking in recent days that I needed to have done," said the England leader.
But, after Crawley scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate 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.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "weak men" comment subsequent to his side suffered a loss in Brisbane to go 2-0 down.
The England squad afterwards took a holiday to Noosa between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Before the Adelaide contest, he said his team had held "honest" talks and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to remain in contention in the series.
Yet, the Kent batsman asserted the guidance from the captain and head coach McCullum had remained in line with their prior three years in leadership.
"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," said the opener. "It's just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."
Australia Close of Historic Ashes Triumph
The opener's dismissal late on Saturday was part of a crucial three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Stokes himself – meant England six down for 207 in pursuit of a daunting total of 435 runs.
This means, the home team require four wickets on the last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage with three matches played.
Defeat will extend the English team's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth straight away Ashes series defeat.
The current battle will be completed in just eleven days of play – with England losing the initial matches in two and four days respectively.
Not since 1921, when the Australians sealed a series win in England in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been determined more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.
"It's disheartening," said the batsman. "We came here to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There will still be plenty to play for and we'll definitely view it like that," Crawley added.
"It's been tough. Australia is a very, very good team. It was inevitably tough coming here to face them. They entered as the favourites coming in to it they've proven why."
Ollie Pope's Position In Question
While Crawley's innings in the third Test likely secures questions about his short-term future in the England team, Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
Pope fell for 17 runs in England's second knock on Saturday, adding to his modest returns against the old enemy.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a half-century and averages 17.62.
Only one other England player in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top six in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.
However, Crawley insisted any notion Pope is under the microscope comes from "the media" – meaning the press – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," added he. "He has had a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has produced some really good knocks. It is noise from the outside. There's no chat of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley finished.
