Chris Tremlett and Monty Panesar will both have the opportunity to revive their Test careers on the biggest stage after being named in England’s 16-man Ashes squad.

The Surrey fast bowler and Sussex left-arm spinner, both of whom moved to their new counties at the start of this summer, have impressed sufficiently to be included in an otherwise predictable squad.

England also announced at the Brit Oval that Jonathan Trott and Steven Finn, both also among the Ashes 16 to be captained by Andrew Strauss, have won central contracts for the first time.

Twenty-nine-year-old Tremlett won the last of his three Test caps against India in 2007. He topped Surrey’s LV= Division Two County Championship bowling averages this summer, while Panesar is back in the reckoning – as the second spinner behind Graeme Swann – after taking 52 first-class wickets for Sussex.

Tremlett is joined by his county team-mate Steven Davies who, as expected, will be Matt Prior’s deputy as wicketkeeper-batsman. The Surrey left-hander is the only member of the squad as yet uncapped at Test level.

The selectors named 11 players to be awarded 12-month England central contracts, while a further five players receive incremental contracts.

A 16-man England Performance Programme (EPP) squad, to be based in Australia until the start of the third Test in Perth, includes four players – Michael Carberry, Craig Kieswetter, Ajmal Shahzad and James Tredwell – who have played full international cricket over the past 12 months.

England and Wales Cricket Board national selector Geoff Miller said: “We believe we’ve selected an outstanding Test squad for what will be a fiercely contested Ashes series in Australia.

“In order to retain the Ashes, we will need to play to a very high level – and we believe we’ve selected a squad to do just that. Clearly there are always difficult decisions to make when selecting an England squad, and this Ashes squad was no different.”

England Ashes Test squad: AJ Strauss (capt), AN Cook, JM Anderson, IR Bell, TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, PD Collingwood, SM Davies (wkt), ST Finn, EJG Morgan, MS Panesar, KP Pietersen, MJ Prior (wkt), GP Swann, CT Tremlett, IJL Trott.