Illusionary American dreams

According to Giles Clarke, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, one of the principal purposes of last week's game in Antigua was to break America. "We have to see if we can develop that market," Clarke said, which suggests those involved in last week's events have learned nothing from the experience of the Pro Cricket League. Even worse, they have learned nothing from Stanford's experiment in Fort Collins, Colorado, earlier this year, when he spent £2m (£250 per head) on trying to get the locals interested in the game. Its success can be judged by the opening paragraph of a recent story in the town's paper: "When it comes to cricket - at least as far as Fort Collins is concerned - it's nothing but crickets."

In sport, as in life, some things are just not meant to be. Just ask David Beckham, who departed for Milan last week, disillusioned no doubt that "soccer" has failed to replace baseball as the national pastime or NFL as the national obsession. What he has realised, and what Stanford and Clarke will come to realise if they continue to chase their illusionary American dream, is that the only thing worse than having no ambition is having too much ambition.