CRICKET:

Cricket, brought by settlers from England to the United States, was one of the most popular games in the United States in the nineteenth century. It is played by two teams on a large field in the center of which are two wickets 66 feet apart. Each wicket consists of three sticks topped by two short bails that fit into grooves on the top of the sticks. The wickets are bases for the opposing team's batsmen. The bowler, similar to the baseball pitcher, bowls a ball overhand towards the opposite wicket. The ball usually takes a bounce or "pitch" at the wicket. If the pitch knocks the bails off the wicket or hits the batsman in front of the wicket the batsman is out. Batsmen can also be declared out by having a hit ball caught in the air by a bowler. The batsman or "striker" at this wicket tries to hit the ball away from the fielders of the opposing team so he can exchange places with his team's batsman at the other wicket thereby scoring a run. Still a popular sport in Great Britain, cricket was overtaken by baseball as a popular sport in the United States.

CROQUET

Croquet was also brought to the U.S. by early settlers. It is usually played by four persons in two teams, each player with a mallet and matching balls. Played on a grass or clay court, the object of the game is to hit the ball through all the wickets from stake to stake and back again. Players on a team assist each other and the player or team finishing first wins.

MEANING 1: to have trouble hitting the ball through a wicket
SENTENCE 1: I can't seem to get my ball through that sticky wicket.

MEANING 2: to be difficult or troublesome
SENTENCE 2: Cynthia is a sticky wicket. She won't give me the files on that project.

DERIVATION: The wicket in croquet is the wire arch placed above ground through which the croquet ball must pass.