Denly, 34, was given the nod despite failing to score a century in 14 Tests, with the selectors preferring him over the uncapped Dan Lawrence, with captain and batsman Joe Root unavailable due to the impending birth of his second child.
England haven’t played competitively since January and February’s tour of South Africa, while they had traveled to Sri Lanka in March for a series which was cancelled before a ball was bowled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Denly was part of England’s last Test side, which beat South Africa by 191 runs, while Dom Bess has been named as the side’s spinner.
Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali are among those to miss out, while five seam options have been selected, in James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes.
“What everyone has seen is that Joe has made lots and lots of good starts and lots and lots of good contributions to the team,” England national selector Ed Smith said.
“As a top-order batter Joe would obviously love to convert those starts into hundreds and big hundreds, that goes for any batsman but also it is fully understood that he has contributed to good team batting performances.
“The England team has been batting with more consistency and solidity throughout the order and Joe has been a big part of that.”
Ben Stokes will skipper the English in the absence of Root, with selectors not tempted to add experience in Bairstow and Ali, who have played 130 Tests between them, to help the stand-in captain.
“With Moeen and Johnny part of the calculation is obviously that they have been in the white-ball squad and been very good performers in white-ball cricket,” Smith said.
“You know if they’re not in the 11 here it’s good that they’re playing cricket in the white-ball team.”
The three-match Test series also includes two matches at Manchester’s Old Trafford from July 16 and July 24.