ANDY Murray is ready to shoulder the burden of leading Great Britain to their first Davis Cup title since 1936 after it emerged yesterday that Aljaz Bedene, the World No 45 and Britain's No 2 singles player, can play no part in the tie. Rather than decide on the Slovenian-born player's appeal to play for his adopted country after participating in three dead rubbers for the nation of his birth between 2010 and 2012, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) adjourned the hearing into his case until late March, a decision which drew the ire of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

Leon Smith, the Glaswegian Davis Cup captain, instead named a five-man squad for next weekend's tie on an indoor clay court at the Flanders Expo Arena in Ghent featuring Andy and Jamie Murray, James Ward, Kyle Edmund and Dominic Inglot. While Edmund and Inglot joined the two Murray brothers on the ITF's list of official nominations, the official team only needs to be finalised one hour before the draw on the eve of the tie.

While Jamie Murray insisted the whole process thus far had proved a colossal waste of time ["I guess for him it's pretty frustrating, a lot of time wasted, for a lot of people that put a lot of time into it," said Jamie] you cannot miss someone that you never have. This group has taken Britain thus far and the World No 2 knows that ultimately the pressure in the tie will rest squarely on his shoulders and those of Belgium's top player, David Goffin. The World No 16 is joined in the Belgian squad by Steve Darcis, Ruben Bemelmans and Kimmer Coppejans.

"The important thing is that everyone is aware that we win together, lose together," said Andy. "I'm happy to take as much pressure as needed. That's fine with me. I don't think if Kyle or James play against Goffin that people are expecting them to win. So the pressure is totally on Goffin in that match. Obviously the fifth rubber would be a bit different. But the pressure in the tie is on me and on Goffin. And whoever performs better out of the two of us, you know, will likely decide the outcome. So whoever gets picked as our number two player, their job is just to go out there and try as hard as they can and give their best effort."

The LTA said it was disappointed at the latest instalment of a process which saw Bedene and his agent travel all the way out to Prague only to return home empty handed, with a ruling on his case not even likely ahead of the first round of Britain's 2016 campaign against Japan in early March. "The Lawn Tennis Association is disappointed at the ITF’s late decision today in Prague to postpone the hearing of our appeal for Aljaz Bedene to represent Great Britain in Davis Cup by BNP Paribas," a statement read. "We feel it is important to state that we have complied with the process set forth to us and are working hard to achieve a positive outcome. It is in everyone’s best interests given how long this process has been ongoing, that a fair hearing does place as soon as possible, ideally before the first round of Davis Cup in March 2016. That has to be the number one priority going forward. We continue to fully support Aljaz in his bid for a successful appeal."

"Disappointed that the hearing with the ITF was postponed," said Bedene via Twitter. "I will keep my head held high."

While the Belgian Football Federation yesterday cancelled the nation's friendly with Spain in Brussels, and increased its national threat level to 'Serious' in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, for now the final does not appear to be in any doubt.