LIkewise, tickets to SCG ODIs involving Australia (up until 2006/07) were very difficult to get.
Besides the 2015WC, the 50 over format in Australia lost relevance once the tri-series format was scrapped in favour of useless 5-7 ODI bilateral series. Around the same time, Ch9 stopped giving the domestic one-day comp tv coverage, and CA started to chop and change with the domestic ODI comp (remember in the Ryobi Cup when it was 2 innings of 20 and 25 overs respectively). From that point onwards, domestic 50 over cricket has never been the same, has been confined to the scrapheap by CA, shafted into oblivion for only the diehards who go on this website and cricinfo to know there are even matches on as there's basically no promotion, let alone tv coverage.
It's a shame, because those one-day state games (especially during the Mercantile Mutual Cup and ING Cup days) used to get good crowds, especially at venues like North Sydney Oval and got nearly 30k at the Olympic stadium in the early 2000s; something you definitely wouldn't see now. 50 over matches in Australia are only still maintained to satisfy India/BCCI and the other subcontinent nations where it's a big money-earner for those cricket boards.
I know you make a fair point about the quality of players compared to 10+ years ago, but it doesn't help that Ch9 (who still has the tv rights) could no longer be bothered to broadcast the matches. Doesn't matter that the games are streamed on CA's website, no tv coverage nor media promotion is going to a rapid decline in public interest. Sheffield Shield has sadly gone the same way.
