Venezuela had never beaten New Zealand in a men's international match, but produced a strong performance throughout their Pool B clash at the Pepsi Softball Centre.

Having opened up an advantage over their rivals, Venezuela fielded superbly to seal a 7-3 victory.

New Zealand did overcome Japan 8-1 earlier in the day to move joint top of the Pool B standings.

They are joined by Japan and Venezuela, who have an identical record of four wins and one defeat to date.

Botswana and Denmark are currently tied for fourth place, with three wins and two losses to their names.

Hosts and defending champions Canada continued to ease through the opening round of competition, as they recorded their fifth straight win in Pool A.

They came back from four runs down to clinch a 9-4 victory over Australia.

Argentina moved into second position in the standings, courtesy of their straightforward 11-0 win over India.

Australia, the Dominican Republic and the United States are tied for third place, with each team having secured three wins, but having also lost two of their matches to date.

Competition is set to continue tomorrow.