SOME of my good friends are Bajans, but I will never stop taking great delight anytime Trinidad and Tobago beat Barbados in cricket, or any sport for that matter.

So last Saturday's semi-final in the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament might as well have been the final as far as I was concerned because, once we could put those pesky Barbadians in their place in their own backyard, that was all that mattered to me and clinching the title the following night was just a lagniappe.

Barbados went into the competition with their coach proclaiming that they wanted to go to the Champions League, obviously forgetting that they first had to get past the defending regional T20 kings before they could even think about representing the Caribbean in far off India.

Unlike two years ago, though, when they came here with a fat man side and lost out to Guyana in the final at the Queen's Park Oval, this time most of them were slim and trim and chomping at the bit to go all the way.

Being a bit of a pessimist, I was fearing the worst going into the semis at Kensington Oval, despite all the support for Trinidad and Tobago from compatriots who had made the short flight over for the weekend.

I kept thinking about being at the Garrison Savannah in Bridgetown back in the early 1990s to report on what was then the Cockspur Gold Cup. There was one particular year when I met quite a few Trinis at the track and we were sitting around talking and having a few beers before the big race, but when it was over and the results were posted, with the T&T horses among the also ran, I couldn't find one of those countrymen I was previously liming with. They had all disappeared into thin air.

A week or so later back in Trinidad, I ran into one of them and asked him where he had gone that day and he replied that he had headed straight to his hotel after the Gold Cup.

"You think I wanted to stay around and get heckle from them Bajans!" he exclaimed.

Me, I had nowhere to go as I was working and had to send back a report on the race, so I had no choice but to remain at the Garrison and hear snide remarks in that unique Bajan twang like: "Trini, where you all get them broken down horses. Next time, bring something better."

Admittedly, most of them were in good humour, but there was another year when the late Roland Khan's Native Idol ran a gallant second despite being interfered with by a riderless horse for most of the distance. The majority of fans would have tipped their hats to a battling performance from the Trinidad and Tobago entrant, but as the horses were pulling up on the paddock bend, one guy disdainfully flashed his hand as Native Idol and jockey Emile Ramsammy went past, almost sneering at them. So, unfortunately, I usually think about that particular Bajan and another one who said Brian Lara's record-breaking knock of 375 could not be better than that of Garfield Sobers because the great all-rounder was not out when he broke the Test record. And that's a true story!

As I said, though, those are the exceptions, but I still dearly love to always get one up on Barbados and rub it in the face of the few non-condescending ones who would never admit that Trinidad and Tobago could produce a great batsman to rub shoulders with the one and only Sobers, or own a top-quality racehorse to challenge multiple Gold Cup-winner Sandford Prince.

And any lingering doubts I had over the 2012 CT20 were soon put to rest by the multi-faceted T&T bowling attack when the previously in-form Dwayne Smith was deceived by Sunil Narine and skipper Kirk Edwards was bamboozled by Samuel Badree...and the Barbados batsmen couldn't even get past 100.

What a shame!

Of course, when the reigning champs should have coasted to victory, Lendl Simmons, who always seems to be in such command but then goes and plays a rash shot, and Darren and Dwayne Bravo threw away their wickets to give the Bajans a glimmer of hope.

But destructive Kieron Pollard and dependable Jason Mohammed settled any nerves and thrilled the Trinidad and Tobago supporters all around Kensington and those glued to their TVs and radios back home.

Poor Barbados were so deflated they couldn't even raise their game the next day for the third-place playoff and were beaten again—by the Windwards.

Which reminds me that the great irony of the tournament is that the only defeat suffered by champs T&T—led by Denesh Ramdin, who has long been touted as a future West Indies captain—was at the hands of the Windward Islands, skippered by much-maligned current Windies leader Darren Sammy.

Oh, it would have been so nice to clash with them again in the final.

Instead it was treble-seeking Jamaica, who proved to be no match for Ramdin and his men on Sunday night when Trinidad and Tobago retained the CT20 crown.

A couple days later, there were reports out of Jamaica quoting some of their players, who spoke of disunity and a lack of team spirit as reasons for their defeat.

That may be so, but shouldn't they also have admitted that they were beaten by a superior team.

Sure, we had our share of luck, with catches being dropped off both Dwayne Bravo and Pollard, who also got a reprieve in the semi-final, but almost everyone looking on would say that T&T were the best squad in the tournament and thoroughly deserved their success.

Well done Team Trinidad and Tobago and long may it continue.

—Marlon Miller is Sports

Editor of the Express.