In 1947, when he was 14, Yorkshire County Cricket Club invited him to their coaching classes at Headingley, but they saw him as a promising batsman rather than as a bowler.
[4] His first-class debut was for Yorkshire against Combined Services at St George's Road Cricket Ground, Harrogate, 21–23 July 1954.
[2] The match was a high-scoring draw with no play on the third day but Ryan took 3/84 and enjoyed early success when he had opener John Murray caught by Brian Close for 2.
[8] He made his County Championship debut on 6 August against Derbyshire at Park Avenue, Bradford, taking 4/44 and 0/16 as Yorkshire won by an innings and 94 runs.
[11] He made only occasional appearances for Yorkshire's first team until 1961 when he became a regular choice, usually opening the bowling with Fred Trueman.
[14] There was a postscript to the Park Avenue match involving Ryan and Yorkshire's chairman, former club captain Brian Sellers.
"[15] One of his Yorkshire team-mates, fellow fast bowler Bob Platt, described Ryan's bowling action as "a busy and effective run-up (followed by) delivery at a lively pace".
Trueman praised a "magnificent" performance by Ryan and his words were echoed after the match by Lancashire's Brian Statham.
Trueman and Ryan bowled unchanged through the 31 overs available and, with only one ball left, Lancashire had reached 77/8 and the scores were level.
[17][18] Towards the end of his career, Ryan played in three Gillette Cup matches, taking five wickets at 29.80, and scoring seven runs for once out.
[19] Ryan's Wisden obituary mentions his lack of interest in schoolwork because, depending on how his sporting ambitions developed, he knew he would eventually run the family's newsagency business in the Huddersfield area.
[4] His Yorkshire team-mate Ken Taylor, also from Huddersfield, paid tribute to him, saying that Ryan was a "straight-talking, kindly and generous man".