Chris Waters: When records are not worth pitches they are built on

The Hampshire batsman got out to the second ball after tea on the final day of the game in Southampton to end a third-wicket stand of 523 between himself and opener Michael Carberry.

McKenzie spooned a delivery from left-arm spinner David Wainwright to mid-on, where Gary Ballance pouched a simple catch.

It was a tired shot by a man with 237 runs to his name and denied both him and Carberry a gilt-edged chance to claim the record for the highest partnership in cricket history.

That stands at 624, made by the Sri Lankan pair Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene against South Africa at Colombo in 2006.

It is the only partnership of 600 or more and one of only 11 to have exceeded 500.

Carberry and McKenzie’s effort came ninth on the all-time list and was the third-highest stand in county cricket.

It was a superlative performance by the talented duo but could have been – perhaps should have been – even better.

When they resumed their stand after tea on day four, the game was petering out into a draw and there was potentially a full session left to try to take the record.

The pitch was flatter than the Lincolnshire Wolds and Yorkshire looked a weary and dispirited bunch.

If ever there was an opportunity to make history, that was it.

But McKenzie’s departure put an end to the dream, Hampshire declaring shortly afterwards on 599-3 once Carberry had brought up his triple hundred.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the stand was that one never really got the impression one was seeing something remarkable.

From a distance, it must have seemed an incredible affair, but a combination of a batsman-friendly surface, some poor bowling and fielding and a game going absolutely nowhere meant the whole thing rather crept up on you, nudging you awake like an elbow in the ribs.

Although it would be an injustice to Carberry and McKenzie to say they simply picked off bad bowling on a flat pitch, that would, nevertheless, not be a million miles from the truth.

They certainly did not have to work as hard for their runs as many of the batsmen whose records they eclipsed. Almost without warning, the milestones came and went.

Shortly before lunch, the pair went past Hampshire’s previous record third-wicket stand of 344 by George Brown and Phil Mead – also against Yorkshire – at Portsmouth in 1927.

They then eclipsed Hampshire’s highest all-time partnership of 411 by Robert Poore and Teddy Wynyard against Somerset at Taunton in 1899.

Before long, the previous third-wicket best in county cricket of 438 between Graeme Hick and Tom Moody for Worcestershire against Hampshire at the old County Ground in Southampton in 1997 had been left for dead.

Then, with a neat steer for two runs through the gully off Rich Pyrah, McKenzie took the stand to 448, one more than the highest previously recorded against Yorkshire by Surrey’s Bobby Abel and Tom Hayward at the Oval in 1899.

Incredibly, the pair now had within their sights the highest partnership recorded in England – the 555 by Yorkshire’s Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe against Essex at Leyton in 1932.

It would have been something of an injustice had that record fallen by the wayside because if famous records are to be surpassed, you want them surpassed in “proper” circumstances.

There was nothing “proper” about this pitch, however, which, in stark contrast to the one deemed poor for Hampshire’s previous game, was fit for nothing except demolition.