The English opener Crawley has indicated he had no knowledge of comments made by skipper Ben Stokes about the dressing room not being "those lacking fortitude".
The all-rounder made this message in several conversations following England's loss in the second Ashes series against Australia previously.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England now face defeat with a match to spare, the captain noted he had allowed his message to "circulate freely" among the squad.
"I've done all the talking in recent days that I needed to have done," said Stokes.
But, following the opener made a knock of 85 on the fourth day in the third Test, he commented: "I didn't see that."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the media with a pinch of salt," he added.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to his side were beaten in Brisbane to go two matches behind.
The team afterwards went on a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and third matches.
Prior to the Adelaide contest, he 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 stated the messaging from Stokes and coach McCullum had stayed in line with their previous tenure in leadership.
"The atmosphere has been extremely upbeat, the same as always," said the opener. "It's on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with great liberty. It felt like we could do something special entering this game."
The Hosts On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory
Crawley's wicket on day four was part of a crucial triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant the chasing side 207-6 in pursuit of a daunting target of 435.
Consequently, the home team require just four more wickets on the last day to move to an unassailable 3-0 advantage with three matches played.
Defeat will extend the English team's winless run in this country to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes defeat.
The current battle is set to be decided in only 11 days of play – after England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when Australia sealed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the urn been determined more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other instances in the modern era.
"It's disheartening," admitted the batsman. "Our goal was to win the Ashes and we're staring down the barrel now."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we'll certainly approach it like that," Crawley added.
"The challenge has been difficult. They're a formidable team. It was always going to be tough touring here against them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place In Question
Although Crawley's innings in the third Test probably answers questions about his immediate future in the England team, Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
Pope fell for 17 runs in the team's second knock on day four, extending his modest returns against Australia.
In 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has failed to score a half-century and boasts an average of just 17.62.
A solitary other England player in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has featured as many times in the top six in the Ashes and returned a lower average.
However, Crawley said any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "the media" – referring to the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "He has had a good year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. This is talk from the outside. There is no chat of that nature regarding Pope amongst the players," Crawley concluded.
