James Robert Carpenter (born 20 October 1975) is a former English cricketer. Carpenter was a left-handed batsman who bowled slow left-arm orthodox. He was born at Birkenhead, Cheshire. Carpenter made a single Minor Counties Championship appearance for Cheshire against Oxfordshire in 1996, before joining Sussex in 1997. In that same year he made his first-class debut for the county against Surrey in the County Championship. He made infrequent appearances for Sussex in first-class cricket, making twelve more appearances, the last of which came against New Zealand A in 2000. In his thirteen first-class appearances, he scored a total of 383 runs at an average of 15.95, with a high score of 65. This score, which was one of two first-class fifties he made, came against Nottinghamshire in 1998.