Ayling was born in
Portsmouth in June 1967; his father was a physician, who was the medical doctor for
Hampshire County Cricket Club. He was educated at
The Portsmouth Grammar School, where in 1985 he won 'The Cricket Society Wetherall Award for the Leading All-Rounder in English Schools Cricket'. In the same year he played for the Southern Schools XI,
opening the batting alongside future
England captain
Nasser Hussain. Ayling made his debut for Hampshire in
List A one-day cricket in the
1987 Refuge Assurance League, playing against
Somerset and
Kent. The following season, he made his debut in
first-class cricket for Hampshire against
Oxford University at
Oxford, with Ayling establishing himself in the Hampshire as he went onto make eighteen appearances in the
1988 County Championship, alongside nineteen one-day appearances; In his first season of first-class cricket, Ayling scored 711 runs at an
average of 24.51, whilst with his
medium pace bowling, he took 47 wickets at a
bowling average of 23.36. During a pre-season friendly against
Sussex in April 1989, Ayling was involved in a collision with batsman
David Smith, which resulted in Ayling seriously injuring his knee. At first the ruptured knee ligament he sustained was predicted to rule him out for six-weeks, but knee surgery in July ruled him out for the remainder of the 1989 season. Having recovered from his injury by the 1990 season, Ayling returned to play for Hampshire. He made nine first-class appearances from July, The following season, he played in ten first-class matches and took 25 wickets at an average of 23.80, which was a marked improvement on the previous season. During the 1992 season, he made eighteen first-class and 22 one-day appearances. In one-day cricket, he played in the final of the
1992 Benson & Hedges Cup against Kent, with him taking the wickets of
Neil Taylor and
Matthew Fleming for the cost of 38 runs, with Hampshire claiming victory by 41 runs. Ayling made four first-class and nine one-day appearances in 1993, After retiring, he played
club cricket for
Portsmouth Cricket Club. A hard-hitting batsman, in 60 first-class matches he scored 2,082 runs at an average of 26.96; he made one
century, with a score of 121 against Oxford University in 1992. As a bowler, it was noted by
Bob Woolmer that he had the ability to
swing the ball away from right-handers. He took 134 wickets at an average of 25.41. In one-day cricket, his 94 appearances yielded him 2,082 runs and 93 wickets at an average of 35.91. ==Coaching career==