Bryan was well-regarded as an opening batsman. His Wisden obituary calls him a "a model opening bat" who aimed to "lay a good foundation to the innings" before attacking It regarded him as a "potentially great" cricketer who was a "beautiful field(er)" and "bowled slow leg-breaks and googlies" He scored over 8,700 runs in first-class cricket including 17 centuries. His highest score was 236 runs made against Hampshire in 1923 at Canterbury, an innings Wisden singled out as an example of his approach to batting. He played 119 times for Kent and 11 times for Cambridge as well as making appearances for teams such as the Gentlemen and, eight times, MCC.