Final Tribal Opening Speech (with Watto voted out)

[Virat Kohli]

Gentlemen of the jury, I stand before you here today in hope that you will cast your vote for me to win this game of Cricket Legends.

Firstly, I came into this game with an automatic target on my back after being given the character of Virat Kohli. From what I have heard, Virat is the favoured cricketer of our dear host and that his support of Kohli turns off many of those who bear witness to his postings. This was sure to come back to haunt whoever was given Virat as their character and I feel that I made the best of what could have been a very bad situation by making it here tonight and hopefully, one more giant leap in this game.

I came into this game with very little knowledge of how online games work, I was going to take it as it came and see where I could go from there. You may think of it as lucky that Chris came to me with an alliance proposal of six with Watto, Vettori, Steyn and KP along with himself to create an initial majority alliance. Of course I went along with it. You get offered an alliance when you haven’t heard a whole lot prior, you take it.

In the early stages, a lot of the vote ideas came from Chris or were generally accepted targets. Umar Gul was universally accepted as the first boot once he showed up and was near impossible to communicate with. Malinga, who was slated as the first boot, really didn’t stand much of a chance. It’s after that when I decided to start looking at some options, primarily a Gayle swipe due to his dominant position in the game. I felt there was enough of a connection with Watto and through him Vettori so a threesome was in place. Chris may well have left earlier had it not been for a self voting Dale. Things could have been a lot different had that not happened. The original plan was Gayle on the second vote, as suggested by Watto, but after it was tried on the first and failed, it wasn’t worth risking it on the second so Tatenda got the flick there for being the most on the outs.

The interesting part from here was that Chris and I were able to work together; he seemed under the impression that I had not been the one to turn on him. Although I knew I was involved, I saw an opportunity to keep myself safer with another option because at this stage, Watto was growing as a threat. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to utilize this reconnection to any extent that I would have hoped. Chris even proposed a final 2 deal with me.

To jump back a little bit here, at this stage, I also had a F2 deal with Watto. My talks with Nehemiah had also led to a strong connection which ultimately led to a final 2 plan being put on the table. KP and I also discussed taking each other to the end. Consider this the crux of my social game, being able to have the active players seek out finals deals with me, even when they were either targeted by me (Chris) or were not even that close to me prior (Nehemiah, KP).

The biggest scalp in this game was definitely the Chris Gayle dismissal. Without knowing that a final 3 was going to occur, it was imperative to make sure Chris was out of this game. He was by far the biggest threat in terms of social and strategic game play up until that point and I am in no doubt he would have performed really well had he been sitting in my position tonight. With two attempts to remove him from the game, it goes to show just how dominant he was and how important it was for him to be removed.

From this, Watto then became my biggest threat if I really wanted to win. Yes, he and I had many deals throughout the game including a final 2 deal. But some times you need to look out for what is best for yourself and if that means breaking a deal, then you have to consider whether you chance your arm and what kind of position it puts you in later down the road. I feel it was beneficial to remove the threat and put myself in a stronger position to claim victory.

Of course, you cannot ignore my performances in the challenges. The first challenge I felt I was in the position to take charge when Umar and Malinga were in the box seat. They were our first and back up targets for the night and it was not helpful to me one bit to let them get immunity. Given my character as Kohli and hearing about his “reputation via Sasquatch” I could not let the first vote go to chance and risk myself going. So I put my foot down and started to really get the answers quicker. Some of them, I didn’t need google or cricinfo for such as the Champions League final questions. To have it come down to the last question and me taking it out goes to show my ability in grabbing hold and taking charge when I needed to step up.

From there, I only dropped one challenge, the bomb challenge (which I probably would have been a good chance to win if a) my dog hadn’t jumped up on my lap and b) 15 second rule). I received a single vote after that loss and from there I knew that if I lost another one, my name might appear a few more times than that. So I went hell for leather in the competitions, taking out wins one by one. I dominated the challenge side of this game. No one even came close in retrospect. Watto won 1 challenge, I won the other 7 (with Dale for the first ).

Although, I don’t believe my challenges should overshadow the social aspect of this game that I still played fairly well. I said in my confessionals prior to the dropdown puzzle challenge that should Chris and Shane fall back to back, I would consider throwing the final challenge with the assurity that the two men sitting with me here both would have taken me with them to the final 2. Neither Kevin nor Nehemiah appeared that close to each other and they both offered me deals to go to the end. It may have backfired on me but we will never know now for sure.

With this in mind, I ask you to identify where Kevin or Nehemiah stood out in this game, whether socially, strategically or in any other aspect of the game. Neither were that competitive in challenges, neither were very communicative with Kevin not online anywhere near as much as most of the active players and Nehemiah thinking he was in the loop when in actual fact he was dragged along by a few individuals including myself.

So to the jury, I welcome any questions you may have. I will answer them to the best of my ability with the intention of earning all of your votes here tonight. I hope that you consider me as your number one option to vote for the win. I believe I played a much better game than my two compatriots here tonight and I believe that I should be rewarded with the win.

Thank you.


(1258 words)

[Virat Kohli]

so much for this lol.

[Virat Kohli]

Maybe a few adjustments anyway

[Virat Kohli]

Gentlemen of the jury, I stand before you here today in hope that you will cast your vote for me to win this game of Cricket Legends.

Firstly, I came into this game with an automatic target on my back after being given the character of Virat Kohli. From what I have heard, Virat is the favoured cricketer of our dear host and that his support of Kohli turns off many of those who bear witness to his postings. This was sure to come back to haunt whoever was given Virat as their character and I feel that I made the best of what could have been a very bad situation by making it here tonight and hopefully, one more giant leap in this game.

I came into this game with very little knowledge of how online games work, I was going to take it as it came and see where I could go from there. You may think of it as lucky that Chris came to me with an alliance proposal of six with Watto, Vettori, Steyn and KP along with himself to create an initial majority alliance. Of course I went along with it. You get offered an alliance when you haven’t heard a whole lot prior, you take it.

In the early stages, a lot of the vote ideas came from Chris or were generally accepted targets. Umar Gul was universally accepted as the first boot once he showed up and was near impossible to communicate with. Malinga, who was slated as the first boot, really didn’t stand much of a chance. It’s after that when I decided to start looking at some options, primarily a Gayle swipe due to his dominant position in the game. I felt there was enough of a connection with Watto and through him Vettori so a threesome was in place. Chris may well have left earlier had it not been for a self voting Dale. Things could have been a lot different had that not happened. The original plan was Gayle on the second vote, as suggested by Watto, but after it was tried on the first and failed, it wasn’t worth risking it on the second so Tatenda got the flick there for being the most on the outs.

The interesting part from here was that Chris and I were able to work together; he seemed under the impression that I had not been the one to turn on him. Although I knew I was involved, I saw an opportunity to keep myself safer with another option because at this stage, Watto was growing as a threat. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to utilize this reconnection to any extent that I would have hoped. Chris even proposed a final 2 deal with me.

To jump back a little bit here, at this stage, I also had a F2 deal with Watto. My talks with Nehemiah had also led to a strong connection which ultimately led to a final 2 plan being put on the table. KP and I also discussed taking each other to the end. Consider this the crux of my social game, being able to have the active players seek out finals deals with me, even when they were either targeted by me (Chris) or were not even that close to me prior (Nehemiah, KP).

The biggest scalp in this game was definitely the Chris Gayle dismissal. Without knowing that a final 3 was going to occur, it was imperative to make sure Chris was out of this game. He was by far the biggest threat in terms of social and strategic game play up until that point and I am in no doubt he would have performed really well had he been sitting in my position tonight. With two attempts to remove him from the game, it goes to show just how dominant he was and how important it was for him to be removed.

Of course, you cannot ignore my performances in the challenges. The first challenge I felt I was in the position to take charge when Umar and Malinga were in the box seat. They were our first and back up targets for the night and it was not helpful to me one bit to let them get immunity. Given my character as Kohli and hearing about his “reputation via Sasquatch” I could not let the first vote go to chance and risk myself going. So I put my foot down and started to really get the answers quicker. Some of them, I didn’t need google or cricinfo for such as the Champions League final questions. To have it come down to the last question and me taking it out goes to show my ability in grabbing hold and taking charge when I needed to step up.
From there, I only dropped two challenges, the bomb challenge (which I probably would have been a good chance to win if a) my dog hadn’t jumped up on my lap and b) 15 second rule). The second was the final challenge, the eye sore of a find-a-word which Kevin just smashed everyone in. I received a single vote after the first loss and from there I knew that if I lost another one, my name might appear a few more times than that, which it did. I went hell for leather in the competitions, taking out wins one by one. I dominated the challenge side of this game. No one even came close in retrospect. Kevin won 1 challenge, Watto won 1 challenge, I won the other 6 (with Dale for the first ) as well as taking out the tie breaker challenge against Watto in the F4.

I’ll be the first to admit, I thought I was gone at the F4 vote. But the stars aligned for me, I was sent to a tie breaker in which I got the chance to once again prove my dominance in the challenge side of this game. The fact that this final challenge win was over the one person who had the greatest chance at defeating me here tonight (if I even stood a chance) in Shane should be a point in my favour that even at the last possible moment, I was able to remove the threats. Sure, it was helped along by one of the two others here with me, but it all came down to me in the end.

Although, I don’t believe my challenge performances should overshadow the social aspect of this game that I still played fairly well. I said in my confessionals prior to the dropdown puzzle challenge that should Chris and Shane fall back to back, I would consider throwing the final challenge with the assurity that the two men sitting with me here both would have taken me with them to the final 2. Neither Kevin nor Nehemiah appeared that close to each other and they both offered me deals to go to the end. It may have backfired on me but we will never know now for sure.

With this in mind, I ask you to identify where Kevin or Nehemiah stood out in this game, whether socially, strategically or in any other aspect of the game. Neither were that competitive in challenges, neither were very communicative with Kevin not online anywhere near as much as most of the active players and Nehemiah thinking he was in the loop when in actual fact he was dragged along by a few individuals including myself.

So to the jury, I welcome any questions you may have. I will answer them to the best of my ability with the intention of earning all of your votes here tonight. I hope that you consider me as your number one option to vote for the win. I believe I played a much better game than my two compatriots here tonight and I believe that I should be rewarded with the win.

Thank you.

(1328 words)

[Virat Kohli]

Gentlemen of the jury, I stand before you here today in hope that you will cast your vote for me to win this game of Cricket Legends.

Firstly, I came into this game with an automatic target on my back after being given the character of Virat Kohli. From what I have heard, Virat is the favoured cricketer of our dear host and that his support of Kohli turns off many of those who bear witness to his postings. This was sure to come back to haunt whoever was given Virat as their character and I feel that I made the best of what could have been a very bad situation by making it here tonight and hopefully, one more giant leap in this game.

I came into this game with very little knowledge of how online games work, I was going to take it as it came and see where I could go from there. You may think of it as lucky that Chris came to me with an alliance proposal of six with Watto, Vettori, Steyn and KP along with himself to create an initial majority alliance. Of course I went along with it. You get offered an alliance when you haven’t heard a whole lot prior, you take it. By winning the first few challenges I was able to cement my place in this game, making me a perfect person to talk to regarding future plans.

In the early stages, a lot of the vote ideas came from Chris or were generally accepted targets. Umar Gul was universally accepted as the first boot once he showed up and was near impossible to communicate with. Malinga, who was slated as the first boot, really didn’t stand much of a chance. It’s after that when I decided to start looking at some options, primarily a Gayle swipe due to his dominant position in the game. I felt there was enough of a connection with Watto and through him Vettori so a threesome was in place. Chris may well have left earlier had it not been for a self voting Dale. Things could have been a lot different had that not happened. The original plan was Gayle on the second vote, as suggested by Watto, but after it was tried on the first and failed, it wasn’t worth risking it on the second so Tatenda got the flick there for being the most on the outs.

The interesting part from here was that Chris and I were able to work together; he seemed under the impression that I had not been the one to turn on him. Although I knew I was involved, I saw an opportunity to keep myself safer with another option because at this stage, Watto was growing as a threat. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to utilize this reconnection to any extent that I would have hoped. Chris even proposed a final 2 deal with me.

To jump back a little bit here, at this stage, I also had a F2 deal with Watto. My talks with Nehemiah had also led to a strong connection which ultimately led to a final 2 plan being put on the table. KP and I also discussed taking each other to the end. Consider this the crux of my social game, being able to have the active players seek out finals deals with me, even when they were either targeted by me (Chris) or were not even that close to me prior (Nehemiah, KP).

The biggest scalp in this game was definitely the Chris Gayle dismissal. Without knowing that a final 3 was going to occur, it was imperative to make sure Chris was out of this game. He was by far the biggest threat in terms of social and strategic game play up until that point and I am in no doubt he would have performed really well had he been sitting in my position tonight. With two attempts to remove him from the game, it goes to show just how dominant he was and how important it was for him to be removed.

Of course, you cannot ignore my performances in the challenges. The first challenge I felt I was in the position to take charge when Umar and Malinga were in the box seat. They were our first and back up targets for the night and it was not helpful to me one bit to let them get immunity. Given my character as Kohli and hearing about his “reputation via Sasquatch” I could not let the first vote go to chance and risk myself going. So I put my foot down and started to really get the answers quicker. Some of them, I didn’t need google or cricinfo for such as the Champions League final questions. To have it come down to the last question and me taking it out goes to show my ability in grabbing hold and taking charge when I needed to step up.

From there, I only dropped two challenges, the bomb challenge (which I probably would have been a good chance to win if a) my dog hadn’t jumped up on my lap and b) 15 second rule). The second was the final challenge, the eye sore of a find-a-word which Kevin just smashed everyone in. I received a single vote after the first loss and from there I knew that if I lost another one, my name might appear a few more times than that, which it did. I went hell for leather in the competitions, taking out wins one by one. I dominated the challenge side of this game. No one even came close in retrospect. Kevin won 1 challenge, Watto won 1 challenge, I won the other 6 (with Dale for the first ) as well as taking out the tie breaker challenge against Watto in the F4.

I’ll be the first to admit, I thought I was gone at the F4 vote. But the stars aligned for me, I was sent to a tie breaker in which I got the chance to once again prove my dominance in the challenge side of this game. The fact that this final challenge win was over the one person who had the greatest chance at defeating me here tonight (if I even stood a chance) in Shane should be a point in my favour that even at the last possible moment, I was able to remove the threats. Sure, it was helped along by one of the two others here with me, but it all came down to me in the end.

Although, I don’t believe my challenge performances should overshadow the social aspect of this game that I still played fairly well. I said in my confessionals prior to the dropdown puzzle challenge that should Chris and Shane fall back to back, I would consider throwing the final challenge with the assurity that the two men sitting with me here both would have taken me with them to the final 2. Neither Kevin nor Nehemiah appeared that close to each other and they both offered me deals to go to the end. It may have backfired on me but we will never know now for sure.

With this in mind, I ask you to identify where Kevin or Nehemiah stood out in this game, whether socially, strategically or in any other aspect of the game. Neither were that competitive in challenges, neither were very communicative with Kevin not online anywhere near as much as most of the active players and Nehemiah thinking he was in the loop when in actual fact he was dragged along by a few individuals including myself.

So to the jury, I welcome any questions you may have. I will answer them to the best of my ability with the intention of earning all of your votes here tonight. I hope that you consider me as your number one option to vote for the win. I believe I played a much better game than my two compatriots here tonight and I believe that I should be rewarded with the win.

Thank you.

[Virat Kohli]

Gentlemen of the jury, I stand before you here today in hope that you will cast your vote for me to win this game of Cricket Legends.

Firstly, I came into this game with an automatic target on my back after being given the character of Virat Kohli. From what I have heard, Virat is the favoured cricketer of our dear host and that his support of Kohli turns off many of those who bear witness to his postings. This was sure to come back to haunt whoever was given Virat as their character and I feel that I made the best of what could have been a very bad situation by making it here tonight and hopefully, one more giant leap in this game. I hope you all can look past the choice of character and base your decision on how this game was played.

I came into this game with very little knowledge of how online games work, I was going to take it as it came and see where I could go from there. You may think of it as lucky that Chris came to me with an alliance proposal of six with Watto, Vettori, Steyn and KP along with himself to create an initial majority alliance. Of course I went along with it. You get offered an alliance when you haven’t heard a whole lot prior, you take it. By winning the first few challenges I was able to cement my place in this game, making me a perfect person to talk to regarding future plans.

In the early stages, a lot of the vote ideas came from Chris or were generally accepted targets. Umar Gul was universally accepted as the first boot once he showed up and was near impossible to communicate with. Malinga, who was slated as the first boot, really didn’t stand much of a chance. It’s after that when I decided to start looking at some options, primarily a Gayle swipe due to his dominant position in the game. I felt there was enough of a connection with Watto and through him Vettori so a threesome was in place. Chris may well have left earlier had it not been for a self voting Dale. Things could have been a lot different had that not happened. The original plan was Gayle on the second vote, as suggested by Watto, but after it was tried on the first and failed, it wasn’t worth risking it on the second so Tatenda got the flick there for being the most on the outs.

The interesting part from here was that Chris and I were able to work together; he seemed under the impression that I had not been the one to turn on him. Although I knew I was involved, I saw an opportunity to keep myself safer with another option because at this stage, Watto was growing as a threat. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to utilize this reconnection to any extent that I would have hoped. Chris even proposed a final 2 deal with me.

To jump back a little bit here, at this stage, I also had a F2 deal with Watto. My talks with Nehemiah had also led to a strong connection which ultimately led to a final 2 plan being put on the table. KP and I also discussed taking each other to the end. Consider this the crux of my social game, being able to have the active players seek out finals deals with me, even when they were either targeted by me (Chris) or were not even that close to me prior (Nehemiah, KP).

The biggest scalp in this game was definitely the Chris Gayle dismissal. Without knowing that a final 3 was going to occur, it was imperative to make sure Chris was out of this game. He was by far the biggest threat in terms of social and strategic game play up until that point and I am in no doubt he would have performed really well had he been sitting in my position tonight. With two attempts to remove him from the game, it goes to show just how dominant he was and how important it was for him to be removed.

Of course, you cannot ignore my performances in the challenges. The first challenge I felt I was in the position to take charge when Umar and Malinga were in the box seat. They were our first and back up targets for the night and it was not helpful to me one bit to let them get immunity. Given my character as Kohli and hearing about his “reputation via Sasquatch” I could not let the first vote go to chance and risk myself going. So I put my foot down and started to really get the answers quicker. Some of them, I didn’t need google or cricinfo for such as the Champions League final questions. To have it come down to the last question and me taking it out goes to show my ability in grabbing hold and taking charge when I needed to step up.

From there, I only dropped two challenges, the bomb challenge (which I probably would have been a good chance to win if a) my dog hadn’t jumped up on my lap and b) 15 second rule). The second was the final challenge, the eye sore of a find-a-word which Kevin just smashed everyone in. I received a single vote after the first loss and from there I knew that if I lost another one, my name might appear a few more times than that, which it did. I went hell for leather in the competitions, taking out wins one by one. I dominated the challenge side of this game. No one even came close in retrospect. Kevin won 1 challenge, Watto won 1 challenge, I won the other 6 (with Dale for the first ) as well as taking out the tie breaker challenge against Watto in the F4.

I’ll be the first to admit, I thought I was gone at the F4 vote. But the stars aligned for me, I was sent to a tie breaker in which I got the chance to once again prove my dominance in the challenge side of this game. The fact that this final challenge win was over the one person who had the greatest chance at defeating me here tonight (if I even stood a chance) in Shane should be a point in my favour that even at the last possible moment, I was able to remove the threats. Sure, it was helped along by one of the two others here with me, but it all came down to me in the end.

Although, I don’t believe my challenge performances should overshadow the social aspect of this game that I still played fairly well. I said in my confessionals prior to the dropdown puzzle challenge that should Chris and Shane fall back to back, I would consider throwing the final challenge with the assurity that the two men sitting with me here both would have taken me with them to the final 2. Neither Kevin nor Nehemiah appeared that close to each other and they both offered me deals to go to the end. It may have backfired on me but we will never know now for sure.

With this in mind, I ask you to identify where Kevin or Nehemiah stood out in this game, whether socially, strategically or in any other aspect of the game. Neither were that competitive in challenges, neither were very communicative with Kevin not online anywhere near as much as most of the active players and Nehemiah thinking he was in the loop when in actual fact he was dragged along by a few individuals including myself. Both of these men were easily dispensable and could have gone at any stage, if only for a lack of self voting players and much bigger threats.

So to the jury, I welcome any questions you may have. I will answer them to the best of my ability with the intention of earning all of your votes here tonight. I hope that you consider me as your number one option to vote for the win. I believe I played a much better game than my two compatriots here tonight and I believe that I should be rewarded with the win.

Thank you.

[Virat Kohli]

Gentlemen of the jury, I stand before you here today in hope that you will cast your vote for me to win this game of Cricket Legends. (I know this is a little long but it’s needed for me to fully outline why I should win. More aspects to my game means I require a longer opening statement)

Firstly, I came into this game with an automatic target on my back after being given the character of Virat Kohli. I never asked for Kohli, let me make that clear. It seems to be no secret, Virat is the favoured cricketer of our dear host and that his support of Kohli turns off many of those who bear witness to his postings.

Nov 7, 2012 15:14:51 GMT 10 Shane Watson said:

We all know how much of a hard on Richie has for you

This was sure to come back to haunt whoever was given Virat as their character and I feel that I made the best of what could have been a very bad situation by making it here tonight and hopefully, one more giant leap in this game. I hope you all can look past the choice of character and base your decision on how this game was played.

I came into this game with very little knowledge of how online games work, I was going to take it as it came and see where I could go from there. You may think of it as lucky that Chris came to me with an alliance proposal of six with Watto, Vettori, Steyn and KP along with himself to create an initial majority alliance. Of course I went along with it. You get offered an alliance when you haven’t heard a whole lot prior, you take it. By winning the first few challenges I was able to cement my place in this game, making me a perfect person to talk to regarding future plans.

In the early stages, a lot of the vote ideas came from Chris or were generally accepted targets. Umar Gul was universally accepted as the first boot once he showed up and was near impossible to communicate with. Malinga, who was slated as the first boot, really didn’t stand much of a chance. It’s after that when I decided to start looking at some options, primarily a Gayle swipe due to his dominant position in the game. I felt there was enough of a connection with Watto and through him Vettori so a threesome was in place. Chris may well have left earlier had it not been for a self voting Dale. Things could have been a lot different had that not happened. The original plan was Gayle on the second vote, as suggested by Watto, but after it was tried on the first and failed, it wasn’t worth risking it on the second so Tatenda got the flick there for being the most on the outs.

The interesting part from here was that Chris and I were able to work together; he seemed under the impression that I had not been the one to turn on him. Although I knew I was involved, I saw an opportunity to keep myself safer with another option because at this stage, Watto was growing as a threat. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to utilize this reconnection to any extent that I would have hoped. Chris even proposed a final 2 deal with me.

To jump back a little bit here, at this stage, I also had a F2 deal with Watto. My talks with Nehemiah had also led to a strong connection which ultimately led to a final 2 plan being put on the table. KP and I also discussed taking each other to the end. Consider this the crux of my social game, being able to have the active players seek out finals deals with me, even when they were either targeted by me (Chris) or were not even that close to me prior (Nehemiah, KP).

The biggest scalp in this game was definitely the Chris Gayle dismissal. Without knowing that a final 3 was going to occur, it was imperative to make sure Chris was out of this game. He was by far the biggest threat in terms of social and strategic game play up until that point and I am in no doubt he would have performed really well had he been sitting in my position tonight. With two attempts to remove him from the game, it goes to show just how dominant he was and how important it was for him to be removed.

Of course, you cannot ignore my performances in the challenges. The first challenge I felt I was in the position to take charge when Umar and Malinga were in the box seat. They were our first and back up targets for the night and it was not helpful to me one bit to let them get immunity. Given my character as Kohli and hearing about his “reputation via Sasquatch” I could not let the first vote go to chance and risk myself going. So I put my foot down and started to really get the answers quicker. Some of them, I didn’t need google or cricinfo for such as the Champions League final questions. To have it come down to the last question and me taking it out goes to show my ability in grabbing hold and taking charge when I needed to step up.

From there, I only dropped two challenges, the bomb challenge (which I probably would have been a good chance to win if a) my dog hadn’t jumped up on my lap and b) 15 second rule). The second was the final challenge, the eye sore of a find-a-word which Kevin just smashed everyone in. I received a single vote after the first loss and from there I knew that if I lost another one, my name might appear a few more times than that, which it did. I went hell for leather in the competitions, taking out wins one by one. I dominated the challenge side of this game. No one even came close in retrospect. Kevin won 1 challenge, Watto won 1 challenge, I won the other 6 (with Dale for the first ) as well as taking out the tie breaker challenge against Watto in the F4.

I’ll be the first to admit, I thought I was gone at the F4 vote. But the stars aligned for me, I was sent to a tie breaker in which I got the chance to once again prove my dominance in the challenge side of this game. The fact that this final challenge win was over the one person who had the greatest chance at defeating me here tonight (if I even stood a chance) in Shane should be a point in my favour that even at the last possible moment, I was able to remove the threats. Sure, it was helped along by one of the two others here with me, but it all came down to me in the end.

Although, I don’t believe my challenge performances should overshadow the social aspect of this game that I still played fairly well. I said in my confessionals prior to the dropdown puzzle challenge that should Chris and Shane fall back to back, I would consider throwing the final challenge with the assurity that the two men sitting with me here both would have taken me with them to the final 2. Neither Kevin nor Nehemiah appeared that close to each other and they both offered me deals to go to the end. It may have backfired on me but we will never know now for sure.

With this in mind, I ask you to identify where Kevin or Nehemiah stood out in this game, whether socially, strategically or in any other aspect of the game. Neither were that competitive in challenges, neither were very communicative with Kevin not online anywhere near as much as most of the active players and Nehemiah thinking he was in the loop when in actual fact he was dragged along by a few individuals including myself. Both of these men were easily dispensable and could have gone at any stage, if only for a lack of self voting players and much bigger threats.

So to the jury, I welcome any questions you may have. I will answer them to the best of my ability with the intention of earning all of your votes here tonight. I hope that you consider me as your number one option to vote for the win. I believe I played a much better game than my two compatriots here tonight and I believe that I should be rewarded with the win.

Thank you.

[Virat Kohli]

Gentlemen of the jury, I stand before you here today in hope that you will cast your vote for me to win this game of Cricket Legends. (I know this is a little long but it’s needed for me to fully outline why I should win. More aspects to my game means I require a longer opening statement)

Firstly, I came into this game with an automatic target on my back after being given the character of Virat Kohli. I never asked for Kohli, let me make that clear. It seems to be no secret, Virat is the favoured cricketer of our dear host and that his support of Kohli turns off many of those who bear witness to his postings.

Nov 7, 2012 15:14:51 GMT 10 Shane Watson said:

We all know how much of a hard on Richie has for you

This was sure to come back to haunt whoever was given Virat as their character and I feel that I made the best of what could have been a very bad situation by making it here tonight and hopefully, one more giant leap in this game. I hope you all can look past the choice of character and base your decision on how this game was played.

I came into this game with very little knowledge of how online games work, I was going to take it as it came and see where I could go from there. You may think of it as lucky that Chris came to me with an alliance proposal of six with Watto, Vettori, Steyn and KP along with himself to create an initial majority alliance. Of course I went along with it. You get offered an alliance when you haven’t heard a whole lot prior, you take it. By winning the first few challenges I was able to cement my place in this game, making me a perfect person to talk to regarding future plans.

In the early stages, a lot of the vote ideas came from Chris or were generally accepted targets. Umar Gul was universally accepted as the first boot once he showed up and was near impossible to communicate with. Malinga, who was slated as the first boot, really didn’t stand much of a chance. It’s after that when I decided to start looking at some options, primarily a Gayle swipe due to his dominant position in the game. I felt there was enough of a connection with Watto and through him Vettori so a threesome was in place. Chris may well have left earlier had it not been for a self voting Dale. Things could have been a lot different had that not happened. The original plan was Gayle on the second vote, as suggested by Watto, but after it was tried on the first and failed, it wasn’t worth risking it on the second so Tatenda got the flick there for being the most on the outs.

The interesting part from here was that Chris and I were able to work together; he seemed under the impression that I had not been the one to turn on him. Although I knew I was involved, I saw an opportunity to keep myself safer with another option because at this stage, Watto was growing as a threat. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to utilize this reconnection to any extent that I would have hoped. Chris even proposed a final 2 deal with me.

To jump back a little bit here, at this stage, I also had a F2 deal with Watto. My talks with Nehemiah had also led to a strong connection which ultimately led to a final 2 plan being put on the table. KP and I also discussed taking each other to the end. Consider this the crux of my social game, being able to have the active players seek out finals deals with me, even when they were either targeted by me (Chris) or were not even that close to me prior (Nehemiah, KP).

The biggest scalp in this game was definitely the Chris Gayle dismissal. Without knowing that a final 3 was going to occur, it was imperative to make sure Chris was out of this game. He was by far the biggest threat in terms of social and strategic game play up until that point and I am in no doubt he would have performed really well had he been sitting in my position tonight. With two attempts to remove him from the game, it goes to show just how dominant he was and how important it was for him to be removed.

Of course, you cannot ignore my performances in the challenges. The first challenge I felt I was in the position to take charge when Umar and Malinga were in the box seat. They were our first and back up targets for the night and it was not helpful to me one bit to let them get immunity. Given my character as Kohli and hearing about his “reputation via Sasquatch” I could not let the first vote go to chance and risk myself going. So I put my foot down and started to really get the answers quicker. Some of them, I didn’t need google or cricinfo for such as the Champions League final questions. To have it come down to the last question and me taking it out goes to show my ability in grabbing hold and taking charge when I needed to step up.

From there, I only dropped two challenges, the bomb challenge (which I probably would have been a good chance to win if a) my dog hadn’t jumped up on my lap and b) 15 second rule). The second was the final challenge, the eye sore of a find-a-word which Kevin just smashed everyone in. I received a single vote after the first loss and from there I knew that if I lost another one, my name might appear a few more times than that, which it did. I went hell for leather in the competitions, taking out wins one by one. I dominated the challenge side of this game. No one even came close in retrospect. Kevin won 1 challenge, Watto won 1 challenge, I won the other 6 (with Dale for the first ) as well as taking out the tie breaker challenge against Watto in the F4.

I’ll be the first to admit, I thought I was gone at the F4 vote. But the stars aligned for me, I was sent to a tie breaker in which I got the chance to once again prove my dominance in the challenge side of this game. The fact that this final challenge win was over the one person who had the greatest chance at defeating me here tonight (if I even stood a chance) in Shane should be a point in my favour that even at the last possible moment, I was able to remove the threats. Sure, it was helped along by one of the two others here with me, but it all came down to me in the end.

Although, I don’t believe my challenge performances should overshadow the social aspect of this game that I still played fairly well. I said in my confessionals prior to the dropdown puzzle challenge that should Chris and Shane fall back to back, I would consider throwing the final challenge with the assurity that the two men sitting with me here both would have taken me with them to the final 2. Neither Kevin nor Nehemiah appeared that close to each other and they both offered me deals to go to the end. It may have backfired on me but we will never know now for sure.

With this in mind, I ask you to identify where Kevin or Nehemiah stood out in this game, whether socially, strategically or in any other aspect of the game. Neither were that competitive in challenges, neither were very communicative with Kevin not online anywhere near as much as most of the active players and Nehemiah thinking he was in the loop when in actual fact he was dragged along by a few individuals including myself. Both of these men were easily dispensable and could have gone at any stage, if only for a lack of self voting players and much bigger threats.

So to the jury, I welcome any questions you may have. I will answer them to the best of my ability with the intention of earning all of your votes here tonight. I hope that you consider me as your number one option to vote for the win. I believe I played a much better game than my two compatriots here tonight and I believe that I should be rewarded with the win.

Thank you.