The English opening batter Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments made by captain Ben Stokes about the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
Stokes delivered those words in several conversations following England's defeat in the second match of the Ashes series against Australia earlier this month.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at a series loss at the earliest opportunity, the captain noted he had allowed his message to "circulate freely" within the playing group.
"I've done the necessary discussions over the past two days that I required," said Stokes.
But, after Crawley scored 85 on the penultimate day in the third Test, he commented: "I didn't see that."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the press with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
Stokes made the "weak men" observation subsequent to his side suffered a loss in the second Test to go 2-0 down.
The England squad afterwards took a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and third matches.
Prior to the Adelaide contest, Stokes said his players had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain alive in the series.
Yet, the Kent batsman asserted the guidance from the captain and head coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their previous tenure in charge.
"It's been very positive, unchanged," noted the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, play our way, with great liberty. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."
Australia Close of Historic Ashes Triumph
The opener's dismissal on day four came during a crucial triple-strike by Australia spinner Lyon.
Lyon's three wickets in 20 deliveries – he also bowled Brook and Ben Stokes – meant England six down for 207 in pursuit of a notional total of 435.
Consequently, the home team require just four more wickets on the last day to move to an insurmountable three-nil advantage after three matches played.
Defeat would prolong England's drought in Australia to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive away Ashes series loss.
The current battle is set to be decided in only eleven days of play – after England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when the Australians sealed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided more swiftly. The hosts have also won in eleven days on two other occasions in the modern era.
"It's disheartening," admitted the batsman. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are facing elimination now."
"There will still be plenty to play for and we will definitely view it with that mindset," Crawley added.
"It's been tough. Australia is a formidable side. It was always going to be hard coming here to face them. They entered as the front-runners and have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's innings in Adelaide likely secures doubts about his short-term future in the side, Ollie Pope appears under immense pressure for his spot in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman was out for 17 runs in England's second innings on Saturday, adding to his poor record versus the old enemy.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has never made a half-century and boasts an average of 17.62.
Only one other England player since 1900 – Dennis Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top six in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
However, the opener said any suggestion his teammate is being scrutinised originates with "you guys" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a good year to be frank."
"He has played some really good knocks. This is noise externally. There is no chat of that nature on Ollie in the camp," he concluded.
