Great Britain will play Lithuania in the first round of next year's Davis Cup.

The Euro-Africa Zone II tie will take place in the Baltic state on March 5-7.

Former world junior champion Ricardas Berankis, now 19, is currently Lithuania's top-ranked player at 432 in the world rankings.

Laurynas Grigelis and Gvidas Sabeckis are also ranked in the top 700 while 17-year-old Dovydas Sakinis is the only other Lithuanian in the ATP rankings.

The winners will play either Ireland or Turkey in the second round in July, but the losers will be condemned to a relegation play-off to avoid dropping into Group III.

GB will need to win three consecutive matches in 2010 to win promotion back to the second tier of the competition.

They were relegated to Zone II, the third tier, last weekend when they went down 3-2 to Poland in Liverpool.

Next season will be only Great Britain's second spell in the third tier, the last being a two-year period in the mid-90s.

The away draw may make British star Andy Murray's participation less likely, with the British number one and captain John Lloyd indicating after the Poland loss it could be time for other players to step up.

Teenager Dan Evans was given the second singles spot in Liverpool and, although he failed to win a set, Lloyd sees the 19-year-old as a key part of his squad.

British number two James Ward, who missed out with illness last weekend, Josh Goodall, Chris Eaton and doubles specialists Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski are also likely to be in contention.

Lloyd said: "Playing in Group II will give some of our younger players the opportunity to perform on the international stage and gain valuable experience at that level.

"They will learn to play in that environment and they will learn to win. The team are now looking forward to moving up the groups."