Denly thought Test chance may never come

Joe Denly suspected he may not get another chance to play for England, but he was given the call by Ed Smith on Friday.

Joe Denly celebrates scoring a century against Derbyshire

Joe Denly revealed he thought an England Test call-up may never come after he was included in a 16-man squad for the tour of Sri Lanka.

The Kent batsman, who has also developed into a more than useful spin bowler, was on Friday selected for a three-match series in November, putting the icing on the cake after his side were promoted to County Championship Division One.

Denly has not played for his country since facing Pakistan in his fifth Twenty20 international back in 2010 and the 32-year-old was not sure if he would ever get his chance in the longest format.

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"I suppose I always held on to hoping that the opportunity hadn't gone and thankfully it hasn't. It has been a pretty good day. Ed Smith [national selector] gave me a call this afternoon around 2pm; again I probably thought my chances had gone, knowing they were announcing the squad around 3.30pm, so it was a great call to get," he told Sky Sports News.

"It's been a pretty good couple of days - obviously getting promotion yesterday, up into division one again, and we had a very successful white-ball campaign as well. Personally it has been a very enjoyable few years and this season is very enjoyable and topped off today with this news. It has been an incredible couple of years," he said.

Surrey opening batsman Rory Burns and Warwickshire paceman Olly Stone were also handed their first Test call-ups.