The English opening batter Zak Crawley suggested he was not familiar with comments from captain Ben Stokes about the team environment as no place for "weak men".
Stokes delivered this message in several interviews following his team's defeat in the second match of the Ashes series against Australia earlier this month.
Ahead of the third Test, where England now face a series loss with a match to spare, the captain stated he had let his sentiment to "drift around" within the playing group.
"I have completed all the talking in recent days that I required," remarked the England leader.
However, following Crawley scored 85 on the fourth day in the third Test, he stated: "I missed those remarks."
"I wasn't actively searching for it. We take everything that is said in the media with some skepticism," Crawley continued.
Raw Conversations and Consistent Messaging
Stokes issued his "fragile individuals" observation subsequent to his side were beaten in the second Test to fall two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards went on a break to a Queensland resort in the gap between the second and the upcoming Tests.
Before this match, he revealed his team had held "honest" conversations and he had asked them to "display some fight" in their effort to remain in contention in the series.
Nevertheless, Crawley asserted the messaging from Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their previous tenure in charge.
"It's been very positive, unchanged," said the opener. "The focus is on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. We believed we could do an extraordinary feat entering this game."
Australia Close of Rapid Series Victory
The opener's wicket late on Saturday was part of a crucial three-wicket burst by Australian off-spinner Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Stokes himself – left England 207-6 in pursuit of a daunting target of 435.
This means, Australia need just four more wickets on the final day to secure an unassailable three-nil advantage with three Tests.
Defeat will extend England's winless run in this country to 18 consecutive matches and condemn them to a fourth successive away Ashes defeat.
The current battle is set to be decided in just eleven days of cricket – after England fell the first two Tests in rapid time each.
The last time 1921, when Australia completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the urn been determined so quickly. Australia have also won in eleven days on two other instances in the 21st century.
"It's disheartening," admitted Crawley. "We came here to regain the Ashes and we're staring down the barrel now."
"There remains significant pride at stake and we will certainly approach it like that," Crawley added.
"It's been tough. Australia is a very, very good team. It was always going to be hard coming here to face them. They entered as the favourites coming in to it they've proven why."
Ollie Pope's Place In Question
Although the opener's performance in the third Test probably answers doubts about his short-term future in the side, Pope appears under threat for his spot in the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.
The Surrey batsman fell for 17 runs in England's second knock on day four, adding to his modest returns against the old enemy.
Across 16 Ashes innings, the Surrey man has failed to score a half-century and averages just 17.62.
A solitary other English batsman since 1900 – Amiss – has featured an equal number of innings in the top order in Ashes Tests and returned a lower average.
However, the opener said any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – referring to the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"We all know of his considerable talent," said Crawley. "Ollie has enjoyed a productive year if I'm honest."
"He has played some really good knocks. It is noise from the outside. There is no chat like that on Ollie amongst the players," Crawley finished.
