 Cox won 25 caps for Scotland and 13 caps for the Scottish League XI.He made his international debut on 23 May 1948 in a 3–0 loss to France as a late replacement for Billy Campbell whose boots had broken; due to the unexpected change, some records incorrectly attributed this to Charlie Cox, a distant relative who also played at a high standard but never appeared at international level.In 1954 Cox played his last match for Scotland; he captained the team at Hampden in a 4–2 defeat by England in front of 134,544 spectators.