The opening days of the Last Man Stands World Cricket Series at Chester Boughton Hall’s ground have been a resounding success, say organisers.

The week-long event got underway on Sunday with a raft of big name players on show from the 12 international countries taking part.

As part of the world’s largest amateur T20 league, the LMS Series features over 5,000 teams and 100,000 players taking part in leagues and tournaments across 14 countries.

Many of the teams include a former international as a player or coach, with selection criteria based rankings and wild card spaces.

With fixtures contested between eight-a-side teams split into two pools, the emphasis is on a faster pace of play and a shorter two-hour matches to add more dynamism and excitement to the sport.

Boughton Hall committee member, Jim Law said: “It’s been going really well, even better than we initially thought.

“Crowds have been good each day so far and I think they’ve been enjoying the innovative LMS format of the game.

“The players have really embraced the area too and seem to be enjoying their time here.

“There was a really successful club dinner here on Saturday night which gave everyone a chance to get to know a bit more about the club.

“The standard of play has been excellent all week with some great matches so far. Weather-wise it’s all gone okay too with no rain delays and the two rest days this week will go ahead as scheduled.

“The fact that we’ve got staggered start times means that people can come along at most times of the day to watch one of the matches.

“Early fixtures are starting at 8.30 in the morning, with the evening games starting at 6pm, so people can even come along stright from work and not miss out.”

Wales, who are captained by Hawarden Park skipper Ian Martin, completed their scheduled Pool B matches last night after successive defeats at the event.

Preparations were hardly ideal for the Welsh team after they were drafted in as last-minute replacements for Bangladesh, who were unable to attend because of visa issues.

And, despite a battling display, Wales lost out to Singapore in the opening fixture of the 35-match tournament.

A top score of 59 from Tom Williams helped the Welsh to a score of 148 for 8 after 19 overs, with Singapore doing just enough in their run chase with a score of Scored 151 for three in reply.

A further defeat followed in match two as Wales’ 139 for five tally was comfortably surpassed by Australia’s 140-3 in a five-wicket reverse.

Sri Lanka are currently setting the pace with three successive victories, while England, Pakistan and Australia all remain in contention for the trophy.

The winner of each pool will get a bye into the semi finals, while second placed teams play the third placed team from the opposite pool in the quarter-finals for a chance to progress.