The English opener Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with statements made by captain Ben Stokes regarding the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
Stokes delivered those words in multiple interviews in the wake of England's defeat in the second Ashes against Australia previously.
In the lead-up to the third Test, where England are staring at defeat at the earliest opportunity, Stokes stated he had let his message to "drift around" among the squad.
"I've done all the talking over the past two days that I needed to have done," said the England leader.
But, after Crawley made a knock of 85 on the penultimate day in Adelaide, he stated: "I didn't see that."
"I didn't see and wasn't really looking out for it. We take anything stated in the media with some skepticism," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
The captain issued his "weak men" observation after England suffered a loss in Brisbane to fall 2-0 down.
The England squad afterwards went on a holiday to Noosa between the second and the upcoming matches.
Before this match, Stokes said his team had held "honest" conversations and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain alive in the series.
Yet, the Kent batsman asserted the guidance from Stokes and head coach McCullum had remained in line with their previous three years in charge.
"It's been very positive, unchanged," said the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, play our way, with lots of freedom. We believed 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 came during a decisive three-wicket burst by Australia spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Stokes himself – left the chasing side 207-6 chasing a daunting target of 435.
This means, the home team require four wickets on the final day to move to an unassailable three-nil advantage after three Tests.
Defeat will extend England's winless run in this country to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive overseas Ashes series loss.
The current battle will be completed in just 11 days of cricket – after England fell the initial matches in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when the Australians sealed a series win in England in eight days, has the outcome of the Ashes urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in eleven days on two other occasions in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," admitted the batsman. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel now."
"There remains plenty to play for and we will definitely view it with that mindset," he continued.
"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a formidable team. It was always going to be hard coming here to face them. They entered as the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Place Under Scrutiny
Although the opener's innings in Adelaide likely secures questions about his immediate place in the England team, Ollie Pope appears under threat for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
Pope was out for 17 runs in the team's second innings on Saturday, extending his poor record versus Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has failed to score a half-century and averages just 17.62.
A solitary other England player in over a century – Amiss – has played as many times in the top six in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
However, Crawley insisted any notion his teammate is being scrutinised originates with "you guys" – meaning the press – "not inside the camp."
"We all know how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. It is talk externally. There is no chat of that nature regarding Pope in the camp," Crawley concluded.
