The English opener Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments made by skipper Stokes regarding the dressing room as no place for "those lacking fortitude".
The all-rounder made this message in multiple interviews following England's loss in the second match of the Ashes series versus the Australians earlier this month.
Ahead of the Adelaide Test, where England now face defeat with a match to spare, Stokes stated he had let his sentiment to "drift around" among the playing group.
"I've done the necessary discussions over the past two days that I needed to have done," said the England leader.
However, following Crawley scored 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. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," he added.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
Stokes made the "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to England suffered a loss in the second Test to go two matches behind.
The team afterwards took a break to Noosa in the gap between the second and third matches.
Prior to this match, he revealed his players had held "honest" conversations and he had urged them to "show a bit of dog" in their effort to stay alive in the series.
Nevertheless, the Kent batsman stated the guidance from the captain and head coach McCullum had stayed in line with their previous tenure in leadership.
"It's been extremely upbeat, the same as always," said the opener. "The focus is just trying to be optimistic, play our way, with great liberty. It felt like we could do an extraordinary feat going into this game."
Australia Close of Historic Series Victory
Crawley's wicket late on Saturday came during a crucial triple-strike by Australia spinner Nathan Lyon.
Lyon's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Brook and Stokes himself – meant England six down for 207 chasing a daunting target of 435 runs.
This means, the home team require four wickets on the last day to secure an insurmountable three-nil lead with three matches played.
Defeat would prolong England's drought in Australia to 18 Tests and ensure a fourth successive away Ashes series defeat.
The current battle is set to be decided in only 11 days of play – with England fell the initial matches in rapid time respectively.
The last time 1921, when Australia completed a series win in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the urn been decided more swiftly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"This is disheartening," admitted Crawley. "Our goal was to regain the Ashes and we're facing elimination at this point."
"There will still be significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"The challenge has been difficult. Australia is a very, very good team. It was inevitably tough touring here to face them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Ollie Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
While the opener's innings in the third Test probably answers doubts about his immediate future in the side, Pope looks under immense pressure for his spot in the Melbourne Test starting December 26th.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 in England's second knock on Saturday, adding to his poor record against Australia.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, the Surrey man has never made a fifty and boasts an average of 17.62.
Only one other English batsman in over a century – Dennis Amiss – has played an equal number of innings in the top six in Ashes Tests and recorded a poorer average.
However, the opener said any notion Pope is under the microscope comes from "the media" – meaning the press – "and not within the team."
"We all know how good of a player he is," added Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has produced several excellent innings. It is talk from the outside. There is no discussion like that regarding Pope in the camp," Crawley finished.
