The English opener Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with statements from captain Stokes regarding the team environment as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
Stokes delivered those words in several interviews following his team's defeat in the second match of the Ashes versus Australia previously.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England are staring at defeat with a match to spare, the captain stated he had let his sentiment to "drift around" within the playing group.
"I've done the necessary discussions over the past two days that I required," remarked the England leader.
However, after the opener scored 85 on the fourth day in the third Test, he commented: "I missed those remarks."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. We take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," he added.
Frank Discussions and Steady Philosophy
Stokes made the "weak men" comment subsequent to England were beaten in Brisbane to fall 2-0 down.
The team afterwards took a holiday to a Queensland resort between the second and third Tests.
Before this match, he said his players had held "raw" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their battle to remain alive in the Ashes battle.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman stated the messaging 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 Crawley. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, playing our brand, with great liberty. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat entering this game."
Australia On the Verge of Historic Ashes Triumph
The opener's wicket late on Saturday came during a decisive triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – meant England 207-6 chasing a daunting total of 435 runs.
This means, the home team require just four more wickets on Sunday's final day to move to an insurmountable three-nil lead with three matches played.
Defeat would prolong the English team's winless run in this country to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive overseas Ashes series defeat.
The current battle is set to be decided in just 11 days of play – with England losing the first two Tests in two and four days respectively.
The last time 1921, when the Australians completed victory in England in eight days, has the destination of the urn been determined more swiftly. Australia have also triumphed in 11 days on two other occasions in the modern era.
"It's disappointing," admitted the batsman. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel at this point."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it like that," Crawley added.
"It's been difficult. They're a formidable team. It was always going to be tough touring here to face them. They were the favourites coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Position In Question
Although Crawley's performance in Adelaide likely secures doubts about his short-term place in the England team, Pope appears under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
Pope fell for 17 in the team's second knock on Saturday, extending his modest returns against Australia.
In 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has never made a fifty and averages 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Dennis Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a poorer average.
But, the opener insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised originates with "the media" – referring to the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"We all know how good of a player he is," said he. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year to be frank."
"He has played several excellent innings. It is noise from the outside. There's no discussion of that nature on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley finished.
