In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings: 1. a set of stumps and bails;
2. the pitch (The playing strip)
3. the dismissal of a batsman.
I have been asked several times about the English phrase
"Sticky wicket"It refers to the pitch.. described as "sticky" if it contains some moisture. Hard to bat on, so hence the phrase
"sticky wicket" meaning Difficult situation.
The state of the pitch depends on a LOT of factors. Different for each venue, generally different Country to Country.
Weather of course effects the pitch. They are covered during rain showers.. but can get effected by rain even so. The SUN drying out the wicket has an effect as day (or 5 days) wears on. Different venues have different soil. Different grass varieties are used. These days some places have "Drop in" pitches... the whole thing grown and prepared on a different part of the ground (or even a different ground) and dropped into prepared trench in the middle of the field. This is increasingly favored, especially on grounds where other sports (such as rugby) are played. That can play havoc with pitch preparation for cricket, as well as giving a hard patch in middle of rugby playing area.
Every effort is made to prepare it to be at its best, but "best" in itself a debatable concept.
For test cricket you require a pitch that will last 5 days. To achieve that it often is perhaps moist on day 1 with some remnants of grass even. Groundsmen are NOT allowed to water or modify the pitch once game has commenced.. even for 5 day games. If a pitch is TOO dry it tends to break up, give uneven bounce, cracks which make batting difficult as well. Put simply, a Test wicket is a little difficult to bat on when game starts, but generally OK later in 1st day and for next day (or2) but for last day it often shows signs of wear. Perhaps foot marks that (spin) bowlers can land the ball in and cause ball to jump around a bit with unpredictable sideways movement.
For an ODI the pitch is (supposed) to be prepared to suit batting. Lots of runs scored is what punters pay to see.. so the wicket is generally dry, flat, even surface offering little assistance to bowlers. Teams toss to get choice of batting first or second. In theory, in most cases that should NOT be a huge advantage in itself. The wicket should be good for whole game. However, there may be some advantages especially if rain has been around, or perhaps overhead weather conditions at start of play. Perhaps some small advantage in bowling first.
As I say the wicket should be OK batting 1st or 2nd. The advantage of the toss should be mainly about team preference... to SET a total for opposition to chase, or to bat second and achieve a known target set. Different teams do have preferences in that area.
Wikepedia's take on wickethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WicketQuote:
The term sticky wicket refers to a situation in which the pitch has become damp, typically due to rain or high humidity. This makes the path of the ball more unpredictable thus making the job of defending the stumps that much more difficult. The full phrase is thought to have originally been "to bat on a sticky wicket." Such pitches were commonplace at all levels of the game (i.e. up to Test Match level) until the late 1950s.