James Aylward (1741 – 27 December 1827) was a noted English cricketer who played for the Hambledon Club. He was a left-handed batsman. He was born at Warnford, near Droxford in Hampshire and is first recorded as a cricketer in 1773, even though he was by then 32 years of age. As Arthur Haygarth writes, "he must have played several years previously, the records being unfortunately lost". Aylward is known to have played in 107 first-class matches from 1773 until 1797. He continued playing after that in minor matches.