Regarding "sticky wicket", which you say originates from "when the ground is partly wet, resulting in the ball bouncing unpredictably", my cricket-playing friends disagree.

They say the ground upon which the game is played is called the "pitch"; the "wicket" is a set of three sticks that forms the target of the bowler and is defended by the batsman. When the bowler knocks over the wicket, the batsman's turn at bat is finished. So a "sticky wicket" would be a difficult problem for the bowler, and in a larger sense implies a difficult or embarrassing problem or situation.