Was 20/20 cricket designed to entice the Americans?
Not specifically… it’s purpose was simply to attract ANYONE. Outside of international matches, cricket struggles to attract fans to the games even in nations where cricket is long-established and popular. The most common reason why people stay away is that it just goes on too long, hence the (very successful) innovation of a super-short version of the game… people can go along to a game right after work and not go home too late, they no longer need to spend an entire day at a game to feel like they got their money’s worth. If the game does attract Americans towards it then that would be great, although the US sports scene is so crowded by traditional US sports that I can’t ever see much of a place for cricket in US sporting culture; however 20/20 was primarily aimed at people who were already casual, passive cricket fans but who never bothered to attend games, whatever their nationality. The audience has always been out there, 20/20 just brought them through the gates.
