Sticky Wicket

A wicket is the strip of ground between the stumps in cricket. When rain falls on an uncovered pitch and the sun then dries it, the surface becomes unpredictable, the ball can grip, skid, or bounce sharply, and batting becomes treacherous. This literal cricketing hazard was being described in match reports from the 1880s. The figurative sense, using "sticky wicket" for any awkward predicament outside the game entirely, is documented somewhat later, with an early example from a speech reported in the Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner in April 1930: "I am afraid tonight... I am batting on rather a sticky wicket."