Hong Kong came into this match with some confidence after that win over tournament co-hosts Ireland yesterday. They also knew that a win over the US would put them safely in the play-offs, with an outside chance at topping the group. It wasn't to be however.

USA captain Muhammad Ghous won the toss and chose to field first. Anshuman Rath was dismissed early on, and Hong Kong never seemed to recover from that early setback. Irfan Ahmed scored 26 from 31 balls before he was out, and the innings in general never seemed to get going.

Jamie Atkinson gave it some impetus with 34 from 23 balls but he came in too late and should probably be batting higher in the order. Japen Patel was the pick of the USA bowlers with 3-28 as they restricted Hong Kong to 125-9 from their 20 overs.

The USA lost Akeem Dodson and number three Japen Patel early on in their run chase, and from there many would have expected them to fold. But they fought back, first with Fahad Babar and Alex Amsterdam putting on 28 for the third wicket, and then Amsterdam & Nicholas Stanford putting on an unbroken 66 for the fourth.

Amsterdam scored 43 from 39 balls, but Stanford was the star, smashing 40 from just 25 balls as his team completed a seven wicket win with 11 balls to spare.

The US will play Papua New Guinea tomorrow, knowing that a win will qualify them for the play-offs should Hong Kong lose to Namibia. It will be a tough ask for the US, but for now they can be pleased that they've defied expectations and competed reasonably well at this tournament so far.