The English opening batter Crawley suggested he was not familiar with statements from skipper Stokes regarding the dressing room as no place for "weak men".
The all-rounder delivered this message in several conversations in the wake of England's defeat in the second Ashes series against Australia earlier this month.
In the lead-up to the Adelaide Test, where the visitors are staring at defeat with a match to spare, Stokes stated he had let his message to "circulate freely" among the playing group.
"I have completed the necessary discussions over the past two days that I needed to have done," said 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. Our approach is to take anything stated in the press with a pinch of salt," Crawley continued.
Frank Discussions and Consistent Messaging
The captain made the "fragile individuals" observation after his side were beaten in Brisbane to fall two matches behind.
The England squad afterwards took a break to a Queensland resort between the second and third matches.
Prior to the Adelaide contest, he said his team had held "honest" conversations and he had asked them to "show a bit of dog" in their battle to stay in contention in the series.
Yet, the Kent batsman asserted the guidance from Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum had remained in line with their previous three years in charge.
"It's been very positive, unchanged," noted Crawley. "It's on maintaining positivity, playing our brand, with lots of freedom. We believed we were capable of an extraordinary feat entering this game."
Australia On the Verge of Historic Series Victory
Crawley's dismissal on day four was part of a decisive triple-strike by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
The spinner's triple strike in a short spell – including the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes – meant the chasing side 207-6 in pursuit of a notional target of 435 runs.
This means, the home team need four wickets on the last day to secure an insurmountable 3-0 advantage after three Tests.
A loss will extend England's drought in this country to 18 consecutive matches and ensure a fourth successive away Ashes loss.
The current battle is set to be decided in just 11 days of play – after England losing the initial matches in two and four days each.
The last time 1921, when the Australians completed victory in the UK in eight days, has the destination of the Ashes urn been determined so quickly. Australia have also won in 11 days on two other occasions in the modern era.
"This is disheartening," said Crawley. "We came here to win the Ashes and now we are facing elimination at this point."
"There will still be plenty to play for and we'll certainly approach it like that," he continued.
"The challenge has been difficult. They're a very, very good team. It was inevitably tough coming here to face them. They were the front-runners coming in to it have demonstrated their quality."
Pope's Position Under Scrutiny
While Crawley's performance in the third Test probably answers doubts about his immediate future in the England team, Ollie Pope looks under immense pressure for his position in the fourth Test starting December 26th.
Pope was out for 17 in the team's second knock on Saturday, extending his modest returns versus the old enemy.
Across sixteen Ashes knocks, Pope has never made a fifty and boasts an average of just 17.62.
A solitary other England player since 1900 – Amiss – has played as many times in the top order in the Ashes and returned a poorer average.
But, the opener insisted any notion Pope is being scrutinised comes from "you guys" – meaning the journalists – "not inside the camp."
"The squad is fully aware of his considerable talent," 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 like that on Ollie amongst the players," he finished.
