After James Ward's defeat by Ricardas Berankis earlier, the result came down to the last singles rubber between Dan Evans and Laurynas Grigelis - a player ranked 269 places below the Birmingham teenager at 521 in the world and who has never played a match on the ATP World Tour.

Evans recovered from a nightmare third set to force a decider but it was not enough as 18-year-old Grigelis triumphed 6-7 (6-8) 7-5 6-0 2-6 6-4.

Lithuania, with only three world-ranked singles players and a team made up entirely of teenagers, were ecstatic at the most famous result in their history.

British skipper Lloyd, meanwhile, was left to contemplate humiliation and his future in the role after becoming the first British captain to oversee five successive defeats.

Britain must now beat Turkey, who lost to Ireland this weekend, in a relegation play-off in July to avoid dropping to Europe/Africa Zone Group III - the lowest tier of the competition.

Lloyd said: "I'm devastated for the team and more so Dan, as I thought he worked his butt off.

"I felt sorry for him more than anybody else.

"We'll see about my future, it's too early yet."

Lloyd had to do without British number one Andy Murray for the tie.

He said: "We obviously didn't have our number one playing and that was certainly an evening-out point.

"It was a 50/50 sort of match before the start, and they were the better team.

"They don't have as many players to pick from as we do but their players are good."