Australia's first appearance was in Italy in 1978. Out of the ten teams to compete, Australia finished 9th ahead of the other debuting team, Belgium. Since the 1988 tournament, it has held the "World Cup" name, with the IBAF recognising the past Amateur World Series winners as World Cup winners. With the change of name came a change in format for the tournament: a round-robin phase, followed by a knockout phase for the top four teams. (Later tournaments would see two pools used in the first phase, and an expanded knockout phase including the top four teams from each pool.) In the "World Cup Era", Australia has reached the final phase four times, finishing 7th in 1998, 6th in 2007 and most recently 5th in 2009 and 2011. Premier12 Tournament 2019 Team Australia came in sixth in the 12-team 2019 WBSC Premier12 Tournament in November 2019. Minor world championships There are six separate tournaments that the IBAF currently recognises as "minor world championships". Of those, Australia has only participated in one senior tournament: the Intercontinental Cup. (Australia has also participated in the World Junior Baseball Championship and the World Youth Baseball Championship, both of which are also included in the same category for the IBAF rankings.) Intercontinental Cup Australia is one of five nations to have won the Intercontinental Cup, winning the 1999 tournament by beating Cuba 4–3 in extra innings in front of a home crowd in Sydney. It was the first time Australia had won an international baseball tournament, and through 2009 the only win outside of the Oceania Baseball Championship. The team enjoyed several individual successes as well: Dave Nilsson named tournament MVP, to go along with leading the tournament for runs batted in (12) and being named in the tournament all-star team (as catcher) Shayne Bennett led the tournament pitching with the best win–loss record (3–0) Adam Burton led the tournament batting with the most runs scored (9) Michael Moyle shared the lead in the tournament with Oscar Macias (Cuba), with the most home runs (3) two other Australians were selected along with Dave Nilsson in the all-star team: Adrian Meagher (right-handed pitcher) and Michael Moyle (designated hitter) It was only the third time Cuba had been beaten in the gold medal match in the tournament's history, having reached the tournament decider every time they have participated. Australia also shares another honour with Cuba: of the