🔗 Share this article Crawley Unaware of Captain Stokes' Provocative 'Weak Men' Comments England opening batter Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by skipper Ben Stokes about the dressing room not being "weak men". The all-rounder made this message in several interviews following his team's loss in the second match of the Ashes versus Australia earlier this month. Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England are staring at a series loss with a match to spare, Stokes noted he had allowed his sentiment to "circulate freely" within the playing group. "I've done all the talking over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked Stokes. But, following Crawley scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I missed those remarks." "I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the press with a pinch of salt," he added. Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging Stokes made the "weak men" observation subsequent to his side were beaten in the second Test to go 2-0 down. The team afterwards went on a holiday to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests. Before this match, Stokes revealed his team had held "honest" conversations and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay in contention in the series. Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the guidance from the captain and coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior three years in charge. "It's been very positive, unchanged," noted the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do something special going into this Test." Australia Close of Rapid Series Victory The opener's wicket on day four was part of a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon. The spinner's triple strike in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a daunting target of 435 runs. Consequently, the home team need just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage with three Tests. A loss will extend England's drought in Australia to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes series loss. This series will be completed in just eleven days of cricket – with England losing the first two Tests in two and four days respectively. The last time 1921, when the Australians completed a series win in England in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been decided so quickly. The hosts have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the 21st century. "This is disappointing," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination now." "There remains plenty to play for and we'll definitely view it like that," Crawley added. "It's been tough. Australia is a very, very good side. It was inevitably tough touring here against them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality." Pope's Place Under Scrutiny Although the opener's innings in Adelaide likely secures questions about his short-term future in the England team, Ollie Pope appears under threat for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th. Pope was out for 17 in the team's second innings on day four, adding to his modest returns versus the old enemy. Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has never made a half-century and boasts an average of 17.62. A solitary other England player since 1900 – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average. However, the opener insisted any notion his teammate is under the microscope comes from "you guys" – meaning the press – "not inside the camp." "We all know how good of a player he is," added he. "He has had a good year to be frank." "He has played several excellent innings. This is talk externally. There's no chat like that regarding Pope amongst the players," he concluded.
England opening batter Crawley has indicated he was not familiar with comments made by skipper Ben Stokes about the dressing room not being "weak men". The all-rounder made this message in several interviews following his team's loss in the second match of the Ashes versus Australia earlier this month. Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England are staring at a series loss with a match to spare, Stokes noted he had allowed his sentiment to "circulate freely" within the playing group. "I've done all the talking over the past two days that I needed to have done," remarked Stokes. But, following Crawley scored a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I missed those remarks." "I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the press with a pinch of salt," he added. Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging Stokes made the "weak men" observation subsequent to his side were beaten in the second Test to go 2-0 down. The team afterwards went on a holiday to Noosa in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests. Before this match, Stokes revealed his team had held "honest" conversations and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their effort to stay in contention in the series. Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the guidance from the captain and coach McCullum had stayed in line with their prior three years in charge. "It's been very positive, unchanged," noted the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do something special going into this Test." Australia Close of Rapid Series Victory The opener's wicket on day four was part of a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon. The spinner's triple strike in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – left the chasing side six down for 207 chasing a daunting target of 435 runs. Consequently, the home team need just four more wickets on Sunday's last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage with three Tests. A loss will extend England's drought in Australia to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes series loss. This series will be completed in just eleven days of cricket – with England losing the first two Tests in two and four days respectively. The last time 1921, when the Australians completed a series win in England in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been decided so quickly. The hosts have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the 21st century. "This is disappointing," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination now." "There remains plenty to play for and we'll definitely view it like that," Crawley added. "It's been tough. Australia is a very, very good side. It was inevitably tough touring here against them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality." Pope's Place Under Scrutiny Although the opener's innings in Adelaide likely secures questions about his short-term future in the England team, Ollie Pope appears under threat for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th. Pope was out for 17 in the team's second innings on day four, adding to his modest returns versus the old enemy. Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has never made a half-century and boasts an average of 17.62. A solitary other England player since 1900 – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average. However, the opener insisted any notion his teammate is under the microscope comes from "you guys" – meaning the press – "not inside the camp." "We all know how good of a player he is," added he. "He has had a good year to be frank." "He has played several excellent innings. This is talk externally. There's no chat like that regarding Pope amongst the players," he concluded.