The USA stayed on course for the semi-finals with a ten-wicket victory over Norway in their replayed match at Farmers Field on Sunday.

Norwegian captain Shahid Ahmed called incorrectly this time, and Steve Massiah elected to field.

With the pitch enlivened by some overnight rain it turned out to be a good decision, as the American seamers broke through early and never let the Norwegians off the hook.

Opener Zaheer Ashiq began aggressively, but then edged Steve Pitter to keeper Gowkaran Roopnarine in the second over, and when Imran Awan bowled Abdul Hadi the Norwegians were 18 for two.

It was a situation from which they never recovered, with both Pitter and Imran making full use of the conditions to keep them under constant pressure.

They bowled a succession of shortish balls which lifted alarmingly, and the Norwegian batsmen were largely unable to offer any effective counter.

The best partnership of the innings was between Majid Zia Butt and Shahid Ahmed, who added 26 for the fifth wicket, but Khawaja Shuja had now replaced Imran in the attack, and he proved even more dangerous than the openers.

None of the Norwegian batsmen looked comfortable against him, as he removed first Butt and then Zeeshan Ali with the following ball, adding Shahid to his scalps in his next over.

That made the score 56 for seven, and Khawaja went on to claim two more, finishing with five for 15 in nine overs, with four maidens.

Masood Mahomed chipped in to end the innings, and Norway were all out for 85 in 31.1 overs.

There was time for nine overs before lunch, and by the interval the American openers, Sushil Nadkarni and Orlando Baker, had reached 53 without loss.

Conditions appeared to have eased a good deal by the time the USA began their innings, although it is also true that the Norwegian seamers were generally able to extract less life from the pitch than their opponents.

Nadkarni and Baker continued on their way after the interval, reaching their target in just 14.5 overs. Nadkarni finished with 41 off 50 balls with seven boundaries, while Baker made 32 from 45 balls, including three fours and two sixes.

Norway will now face Nepal on the same ground on Monday, knowing that defeat would make it extremely difficult for them to reach the semi-finals. The USA will take on Vanuatu, in what seems likely to be a fairly unequal battle.