Explosive Device Found Outside Australian Cricketer Brad Haddin’s Sydney Home

An improvised explosive device was found Friday outside Australian cricketer Brad Haddin’s Sydney home, according to reports. Police, however, said Saturday that Haddin was not the target.

The device was found on a grassy patch by the roadside in Tennyson Point suburb in northwest Sydney, a New South Wales state police spokeswoman said. "Officers ... located and removed a suspicious item which was located on the nature strip, not the front yard, and it will be forensically examined," she told Agence France-Presse. "Inquiries are continuing."

According to Superintendent John Duncan of Ryde police, it was a small and a "very simple, very crude device," the Sydney Morning Herald reported. He also said that the device appeared to have been randomly thrown. "Based on the positioning of the device, we believe there's no evidence to suggest they were actually targeting any particular individual or any particular premises," he added.

Police removed the device, which had two butane canisters and an attached wick, ABC Australia reported. The officials also stated that there were indications of an attempt to light the device.

Haddin’s neighbor Margaret Harsas saw the device near the front fence of Haddin's home. "I pick up Brad's letters ... and I'd seen this blue thing ... I thought it was a T-shirt and a can," she told ABC Australia. "So I went to pick it up and I realized it was a bit heavy, so I put it down and left it and just picked up the letters."

The 37-year-old wicketkeeper pulled out of the second Ashes Test against England Tuesday, citing family reason. A Cricket Australia representative said Haddin was “safe with his family in the U.K.,” Australian Associated Press reported.