Sri Lanka-England 2001 test series

He alongside South Africa's Rudi Koertzen were appointed as standing umpires for the second Test match at Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy between Sri Lanka and England in 2001.^[4] He and Koertzen made fair share of errors during the test match which eventually changed the outcome of the match with England winning the match by a margin of three wickets in a low scoring yet tricky run-chase.^[5] Both of them were even escorted safely from the stadium by the security officials due to the tense situation which arose during the course of the match as fans chanted and booed the umpires in the stands criticising their erroneous calls. The match consisted at least 13 clear umpiring mistakes with Cooray playing the majority of his part.^[6] The Sri Lankan local fans vent their frustrations in the stands protesting against his umpiring blunders by holding placards and banners mentioning and accusing Cooray of having sold the match to secure a visa to England. The phrases "B.C You Sold This Match. Have Got Your Resident Visa for England" were seen during the fourth day of the match.^[7][8]

Cooray took the centre-stage when England were batting in their first innings where he turned down the loud appeals on three occasions when England skipper Nasser Hussain was trapped lbw which was later proven costly as far as Sri Lanka were concerned as Hussain went onto complete a match winning century and in fact Hussain was the beneficiary of Cooray's umpiring.^[9][10] He also denied the caught and bowled dismissal claimed by Muttiah Muralitharan when Graeme Hick was batting. On the other hand, Atherton also survived a close lbw call thanks largely due to Cooray. He also made another ridiculous decision by ruling out Sanath Jayasuriya during Sri Lanka's second innings when replays clearly suggested that the ball bowled by Andrew Caddick had actually bumped well before it was taken on bounce by slip fielder Graham Thorpe who actually had to dive in order to complete the catch.^[11][12] Jayasuriya who was a casualty of Cooray's brain fade umpiring showed dissent at the decision as he hurled his helmet across the boundary line.^[13] The continuous flaws in umpiring also increased tensions between the team players of Sri Lanka and England with Kumar Sangakkara at one point losing his cool and involved in an heated verbal exchange with England's Michael Atherton and eventually Sangakkara labelled England as "cheats".

He also received backlash for his refusal to admit the mistakes he committed during the match. During the post-match presentations, fans of Sri Lanka and England yelled for him to be named Man of the Match. Initial reports by local media revealed that he would be dropped for the third and final test of the series, thus forcing him to a retirement from umpiring. However, the reports were deemed rumours as he was recalled as TV umpire for the third and final test which was confirmed by K. T. Francis who then served as the director of umpiring with the Sri Lanka Cricket.^[14] Despite such assurance from Francis, the second Test at Asgiriya turned out to be his last international match as an umpire.^[15]

Prior to the controversial test match, Cooray was very much respected in the cricketing fraternity and by the fans as he was always rated highly as a quality competent umpire.