After inflicting defeats on both South Korea and Chinese Taipei, both Israel and The Netherlands secured their progression yesterday, but the winner of today's match would finish in first place in their group.

The Israelis, who are making their debut at this competition, beat the Dutch team 4-2 at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.

They raced into a 3-0 first-innings lead and managed to keep their European opponents at bay in the opening stages.

The Netherlands scored their opening point in the third innings to take the score to 3-1, but failed to build on that as Israel added a fourth in the sixth.

Another single was scored by The Netherlands in the eighth innings, but it proved too late as the Israelis went on to claim the victory.

In the other match in Pool A today, hosts South Korea finally got their first win of the tournament as they beat Chinese Taipei 11-8 at the Gocheok Sky Dome.

The Koreans raced into a six run lead after their first two innings but were immediately pegged back by their Asian opponents who scored three runs in their second innings.

South Korea added another two in the fourth which were immediately cancelled out when Chinese Taipei also added another two.

Chinese Taipei then leveled the match at 8-8 when they scored two runs in the sixth and a single in the seventh.

Much to the delight of the home crowd, South Korea would go on to take the win after they hit a sensational three runs in the tenth innings.

In Pool B's only match today, Australia thrashed China 11-0 at the Tokyo Dome.

After two scoreless opening innings, the Australians burst into life.

They scored two runs in both the third and fourth innings to grab control of the contest.

China failed to respond and the match was all but over in the seventh when the Australians added another three runs to take their lead to 7-0.

To add further misery to their Asian opponents, four more runs in the ninth innings completed Australia's dominance and secured the victory.

Australia's win secured Japan's place in the next round while it also means the winner of the match between Australia and Cuba tomorrow will also progress.

Japan and China bring Pool B to a close tomorrow.

The defending champions Dominican Republic got their title defence off to the best possible start as they defeated Canada 9-2 at Marlins Park in Miami in Pool C this evening.

Colombia and the United States, also in Pool C, are not due to play until tomorrow.

Mexico meet Italy tomorrow in Pool D at the Estadio Charros de Jalisco in Guadalajara.

Puerto Rico and Venezuela complete the fourth Pool of the tournament and are scheduled to open their campaigns on Saturday (March 11).

The top two countries in each pool will advance to the next round where two more group stages will take place

The teams qualifying from Pools A and B will meet in Pool E while the top two in Pools C and D will contest Pool F.

Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles is due to host the semi-finals and final from March 21 to 23.