A suspicious item found outside a Sydney house owned by cricket star Brad Haddin appears to have been randomly dumped there, police say.

The item, believed to be an improvised explosive device, was on Friday morning found on a nature strip by a resident of Tennyson Point, who went to throw it away but became concerned and called police.

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“There is nothing at this time to indicate this incident is anything other than random,” Ryde police Superintendent John Duncan said on Saturday.

The ABC reports the device is understood to have been two butane canisters with a wick attached, and there had been an attempt to light it.

“All the indications at this stage of our investigation suggest that whoever had possession of this item has discarded it on the nature strip,” Supt Duncan said.

The item has been taken for forensic testing.

Haddin and his family are safe and well in the UK, a spokesman for Cricket Australia said, adding that it was a matter for police.

Earlier this week, the veteran wicketkeeper ruled himself out of the second Test in the Ashes series for family reasons.

Three years ago, he pulled out of Australia’s tour of the Caribbean after his young daughter Mia was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.