The English opener Zak Crawley suggested he had no knowledge of statements from skipper Stokes regarding the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
Stokes delivered those words in several interviews in the wake of his team's loss in the second match of the Ashes versus the Australians previously.
Ahead of the third Test, where the visitors now face defeat at the earliest opportunity, Stokes noted he had let his message to "circulate freely" among the playing group.
"I've done the necessary discussions in recent days that I needed to have done," remarked the England leader.
However, following the opener scored a knock of 85 on the fourth day in Adelaide, he commented: "I missed those remarks."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. Our approach is to take everything that is said in the media with a pinch of salt," he added.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "weak men" observation subsequent to England suffered a loss in the second Test to fall 2-0 down.
The England squad afterwards took a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and third Tests.
Before the Adelaide contest, Stokes said his team had held "honest" talks and he had urged them to "display some fight" in their effort to remain alive in the series.
Yet, Crawley stated the guidance from the captain and head coach McCullum had remained in line with their previous tenure in leadership.
"It's been extremely upbeat, unchanged," noted the opener. "It's just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with lots of freedom. It felt like we were capable of an extraordinary feat entering this game."
Australia On the Verge of Rapid Series Victory
Crawley's wicket on day four came during a crucial triple-strike by Australia off-spinner Lyon.
The spinner's three wickets in 20 deliveries – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – left England 207-6 chasing a notional total of 435 runs.
This means, Australia need four wickets on Sunday's final day to secure an unassailable three-nil lead with three Tests.
Defeat would prolong England's winless run in Australia to 18 Tests and condemn them to a fourth successive away Ashes series loss.
The current battle is set to be decided in just 11 days of cricket – with England losing the initial matches in rapid time each.
Not since 1921, when Australia completed a series win in England in eight days, has the outcome of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also won in 11 days on two other instances in the modern era.
"It's disappointing," said Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and now we are staring down the barrel now."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we'll definitely view it with that mindset," Crawley added.
"It's been difficult. They're a very, very good team. It was always going to be hard touring here against them. They entered as the favourites and they've proven why."
Pope's Place In Question
While the opener's performance in the third Test likely secures doubts about his short-term place in the side, Ollie Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
Pope was out for 17 runs in the team's second innings on Saturday, extending his modest returns versus Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has never made a fifty 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 the Ashes and returned a poorer average.
However, the opener insisted any notion his teammate is under the microscope comes from "you guys" – meaning the journalists – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," said Crawley. "He has had a productive year to be frank."
"He has produced some really good knocks. It is talk externally. There is no chat of that nature on Ollie in the camp," Crawley concluded.
