JUNIOR cricket teams have been warned to monitor their grandstands after two incidents in the past fortnight in which men posing as scouts watched children and asking for their names.

In an email to coaches and managers, the manager of community cricket, David Lawson, said a man had attended an under-13 cricket match in Manly two weeks ago and began asking the names of particular players.

When asked what he was doing, he claimed to be a talent scout for Cricket Victoria. This was later found to be untrue.

The following weekend, a man at an under-12 match in Concord was approached and claimed to be a ground scout for Milo. This was also untrue.

It was unclear whether this was the same man, Mr Lawson wrote. Both times the person left "reluctantly" after being questioned.

On Monday Mr Lawson sent an email about the incidents to all coaches."Please be more vigilant than you usually are for uncharacteristic viewers of any junior cricket you are involved in," he wrote.

A police spokesman said he was not aware of the cases.

Erik Jensen