Leicestershire LTC veterans justified their high ranking by reaching the quarter-finals of the European finals in Spain.
The club's 45 to 50 team, who travelled to Barcelona as British champions, eased passed Dutch champions Pettelaer 4-1 in the last 16.
In the quarters, they came up against strong Swiss side TC Morbio, who eventually proved too powerful.
Leicestershire captain Jon Ison said: "It was a fantastic experience with the standard exceptionally high.
"We were always going to be up against it, the temperature reached 35C and we were playing on clay courts – now virtually unknown in this country but commonplace to all the other European teams."
Leicestershire's over-50 team fly to Barcelona this week to represent Britain in their age-group, while the over-55s will be going to Switzerland later in the season
Leicestershire vets: Jon Ison (capt), Steve Brett, Steve Stroud, Tim Davies, Leon Hillard.