It’s a familiar scene. After several years living under the same roof, one member of the shared house plucks up the courage to declare their love to another as the sun sets on a midsummer evening.

We have all been that person, or seen this movie. But when Katherine Brunt sidled up next to Nat Sciver to take her romantic plunge, there was a twist. This wasn’t going down in a beer garden or their sitting room after one too many drinks at the end of a Sunday session. Rather, this was all happening on the renowned balcony in front of the home dressing room at Lord’s. Better still, only a couple of hours earlier, the pair had won a World Cup final together in the most dramatic circumstances.

I know there is nobody who is better for me Katherine Brunt

Yes, came the response. Yes, Sciver would be Brunt’s girlfriend. Just under 18 months later, on New Year’s Eve last year, it was the fast bowler – the greatest to represent the England women’s team – once again asking the question. The big one. And once again, there was never any doubt about the response from the champion all-rounder. On Friday, on National Coming Out Day – a happiest of coincidences – they announce their engagement.

“I knew it was right,” recalls Brunt of her timing on that life-changing evening in July 2017. “I know there is nobody who is better for me. I had put it off but then I just asked her. I am shit at remembering dates but I knew that I would never forget that one. Genius from me.”

Having by then house-shared for four years Sciver had long since wanted more to come of the friendship. “She was madly in love with me!” Brunt jumps in. “But I was constantly putting her at arm’s length because I didn’t think it was professional and I didn’t want to stuff up our friendship.”

Yet for all the lovely romantic retelling, including getting lost when trying to find the specific riverbank spot where they had earlier enjoyed a special moment in France – covered in snow the second time around – there is a sharper edge to this, which is why this has remained a private matter until now. They told all to their delighted England teammates right away, but taking the news beyond the women’s cricket enclave wasn’t so easy.

“My parents are different to Natalie’s,” Brunt explains of living as an openly gay woman. “They are quite Christian so it is not something that is done and that’s why it has held me back. They don’t believe in the way I choose to live my life, basically, so it has been quite difficult. Having to tell my parents was really difficult because I care a lot about them so it was something I put off for a long, long time. But as I have got older, I have seen sense and realised that it is not about that, it is about being yourself and living life properly.

“My parents love me: there is no questioning that. They will always be there for me and support me. They are still my parents and they still love me, so it is a compromise I have to take but I am ok with that.”

Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver at the NatWest PCA Awards at The Roundhouse this month. Photograph: Courtesy of Natalie Sciver

Brunt adds that nothing ever changed with her “accepting and understanding” five siblings who have always there for her during her struggles with injury and depression – which she went on record to discuss last year – across her magnificent 16-year England career. But to deny her truth was no longer sustainable, not with her and Sciver – who came out to her family within weeks of the relationship beginning – so happy together.

For Sciver, the pressure hasn’t been quite the same. However, the 27-year-old believes this step will add to her confidence. “There is still something holding me back a little bit in everyday life,” she observes. “Subconsciously, there is a reason why I might put my hand in my pocket or avoid conversations about my relationships.”

I am trying to persuade Katherine to have at least one child Nat Sciver

Brunt has behaved similarly. “To this day, if someone asks me if I am with someone I say ‘yes’ and that’s where it will stop. I am trying to change that now for myself because it is wrong and I shouldn’t have to feel like that. There are times since we got engaged that I don’t wear my engagement ring because I try to avoid somebody asking me.” No more of that from now on.

As teammates, they speak of being able to provide unique support to each other in the tough world of professional sport. When Brunt’s back gave way in St Lucia ahead of last year’s World T20, it was Sciver dressing Brunt, comforting her at night as she cried in pain. Without her there, Brunt hints, retirement might have arrived there and then.

Then, on the good days, they get to share in some of the happiest moments of their lives, such as that famous World Cup win. Predictably, that doesn’t mean they are any less fierce in the nets, Brunt boasting she bowls more bouncers to her partner than anyone else in practice.

They have had their battles as opponents, even if they would prefer not to be rivals. Helpfully, that changes next year with the initiation of The Hundred: Brunt and Sciver were purchased as a couple by the Nottingham-based Trent Rockets. There is every chance in that tournament they will play against another married couple, South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp and Dane van Niekerk. “They are people to look up to,” Sciver says of the Proteas pair, who have played under her leadership in the Kia Super League over the past three years.

Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver in Cardiff during the 2015 Ashes. Photograph: Kieran Mcmanus/BPI/Shutterstock

Brunt adds they have followed their relationship, as they have Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu, two members of the New Zealand national team who tied the knot in 2017, the former currently taking a period of time away from the game ahead of the birth of their first child in January 2020. That has led Sciver to consider the maternity leave provisions that exist in their own contracts. Although, with Brunt far closer to the end of her cricket career, they both laugh, it might influence who does the child carrying – initially, at least.

“I am trying to persuade Katherine to have at least one child,” she says. “I do have child-bearing hips!” comes the immediate response from her wife-to-be. “I have got to have one when I retire soon or Nat is going to have to take some time out of cricket. It’s one or the other.” Indeed, it’s entirely possible at some stage both might choose to have babies.

For the nuptials, they will be back where they were engaged: the serene holiday home Sciver has enjoyed visiting since she was a child in the Chamonix Valley. Their main worry, for now, is getting the marquee sorted – weddings are weddings. As for when, the very moment they have finished their series against India next September. Cricket, like love, waits for nothing.