It took 105 years to achieve - but Oxfordshire finally have a team among the British tennis elite.

The promotion of the women from Group 2 at County Week is one of the biggest and best things to ever happen to the county.

They can, for a year at least, boast that they are one of the top six counties in Britain - but insist they are not going into Group 1 to just make up the numbers.

Captain Caroline Jones thinks that with everybody available, there is no reason why Oxon can't surprise a few people next year. And she says that the team's success is all down to the hard work they have put in over the past decades.

"I still can't believe it," she admitted. "We've worked so hard and for such a long time to get there and we've finally done it. We must have played at nearly every venue across Britain over the past 20 years."

And Jones puts the success down to Oxon's strength in depth.

"Having the glitter in your team - Claire (Taylor) and Immy (Wyatt) - is obviously very nice, but it so much a team performance. Our third pair of Lucy (Collinson) and Cress (Henderson) were fantastic. Without offending the other third pairs we've had over the past years, they were just so good last week.

"To have a third pair who are winning one, maybe two matches a day is just fantastic and you know that you are going to win matches then."

And the arrival of Lizzie Jelfs, if only for one day, provided Oxfordshire with a big boost.

"Having Lizzie down for that one day made a huge difference and that is our dream team, if you like," Jones said. "Talking to the girls, they are all really keen to stick together and give it a real go next year and we'd like to think that with everyone available, we could hold our own in Group 1. But looking at the teams there, we know it will be tough.