England clinched the 2022 Battle of the Brits title after marching to an 8-4 victory over home favourites Scotland in Aberdeen.
The two nations entered the second and final day level pegging at 1-1, with Dan Evans overcoming Aidan McHugh before Andy Murray restored parity for the home favourites by beating Jack Draper on Wednesday.
England - managed by former Blackpool boss Ian Holloway - left Scotland with a mountain to climb after the afternoon session, as Paul Jubb and Neal Skupski recorded a 6-4 5-7 10-6 doubles win over Jamie Murray and Jonny O'Mara before Evans overcame Andy Murray 6-4 3-6 10-8.
Jubb sealed the overall victory for England with a straightforward 6-2 6-2 victory over McHugh in the final singles match, before the Murray brothers ended on a high with a 6-3 6-4 defeat of Evans and Skupski in a fitting doubles finale.
With matches on Thursday now worth two points, England regained their advantage as Skupski and Jubb - filling in for the ill Joe Salisbury - took on Jamie Murray and O'Mara in the opening doubles match and produced three love holds in the opening set.
Skupski and Jubb then broke in the 10th game to clinch the first set and soon went 4-1 up in the second, but Scotland remarkably won six of the next seven games to force a deciding tiebreaker.
Barely anything could separate the two sets of players in the first-to-10 tiebreaker, but Skupski and Jubb found their groove at 6-6 to win the next four points and take the spoils in one hour and 39 minutes.
Three-time Grand Slam winner Murray aimed to draw Scotland level against Evans, but despite the roar of the Aberdeen crowd, he was broken in the seventh game of the first set before Evans took his third set point.
Ended on a high for Team Scotland but not to be overall. Cheers to the guys for making this event competitive, was special to play in Scotland 🏴 @BattleofTheBrit pic.twitter.com/gh86GOoKJQ
— Jamie Murray (@jamie_murray) December 22, 2022
Murray came out with a vastly improved first serve in the second set to claim two of the early three breaks, and he would manage to save a further two break points at 5-2 up before holding to force a tiebreaker.
Murray's resilient defensive work counted for nought as Evans brought up the first match point in a frenetic tiebreaker, where only seven points were won on serve, and the Scot fluffed his lines on a drop shot to put England 5-1 up ahead of the evening's matches.
A youthful contest between 23-year-old Jubb and 20-year-old McHugh kicked off the evening session, but the Englishman took just one hour to storm to a straight sets win, having raced into a 4-0 lead in the first set following two early breaks.
McHugh gave very little away on his second serve and won both of his opening service games in the second set, but the terrific net play of Jubb soon came to the fore, as he won the final four games and sealed his convincing victory with a fifth ace of the day.
England moved into an unassailable 8-1 lead, meaning that the final doubles contest between the Murray brothers and Evans and Skupski was nothing more than a dead rubber, but the Scottish pair still gave the home support something to cheer.
After being broken in the opening game of the match, the Murray brothers proceeded to win five on the spin before again being broken while serving for the first set at 5-1, but they still moved into a richly-deserved 1-0 lead.
Skupski and Evans could not conjure up a response after being broken in the third game of the second set, as the Murrays claimed an inconsequential victory with a love hold to finish.
Ben Knapton
