Cricket commentator Stuart Broad has become the face of memes across social media after England’s calamitous loss in the first Ashes Test in Perth.

Australia leads the five-match series 1-0 after routing England by eight wickets inside two days at Perth Stadium.

England was 1-65 in its second innings – an overall lead of 105 – before suffering a huge collapse as its Bazball tactics backfired badly.

Travis Head then pounded England’s tired-looking attack on the way to 123 off 83 balls as Australia chased down the 205-run victory target with ease.

The home team wrapped up a comprehensive victory at 5.41pm (local time) on Saturday.

Amid the fallout from just just two days of Test cricket, Broad is going viral for his reaction to former skipper Joe Root’s dismissal by Head earlier on Saturday. Root was the third England batsman to fall in the space of six deliveries.

Cameras captured Broad in the commentary box as he closed his eyes, breathed deeply and then pinched his face while fellow commentators Matthew Hayden and Alison Mitchell pumped up Australia’s momentum.

“Stuart Broad, stay in the commentary box,” Hayden said.

As England fans have absorbed the magnitude of their loss in Perth, the footage has spread far and wide.

“I think a lot of England fans were feeling that exact emotion at the same time,” Broad said told the Seven Network’s review show from Perth Stadium on Sunday.

“The Aussies are revelling in that because they hate me so much over here, they’re really feeling the pain that I was feeling when Root chopped it on.”

Later he told SEN’s The Day After that he just needed to close his eyes and “hope it wasn’t happening”.

“Obviously the whole crowd went up and I was sat next to Matthew Hayden. I just needed 20 seconds to close my eyes and hope it wasn’t true, hope it wasn’t happening,” he said.

“That’s what Ashes and Test match cricket does to us, doesn’t it. It draws every emotion out of us.

“It was just such an honest feeling of ‘please don’t let this be true, don’t let this happen’. I think every England fan felt how I felt in that moment because we could see the game slipping away from us right in front of our eyes.”

The footage spread far and wide as screenshots and GIFs ensured Broad’s reaction would go down as the first meme of the series.

“The beauty of Ashes is right here. Every reaction is getting captured somewhere. Talk about broadcasting levels,” one viewer wrote.

Former Australian coach Justin Langer described it as “TV gold”.

“That’s what we love about the Ashes. We talk about being neutral up in the commentary box, you also saw Haydos react — he’s up, Broady can’t believe it, so it actually sums up the emotion,” he said.

“It’s emotion, it’s passion, that’s what we love.”

Following the devastating loss, England must back up for the ext Test at the Gabba, starting on December 4. It is a day-night, pink-ball fixture.

Former Test captains Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook have urged England to play its frontline side in the upcoming two-day, pink-ball practice match against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra, which starts on Saturday, instead of using a second XI outfit as originally planned.

England coach Brendon McCullum said he would consider his options this week. He was also backing opener Zak Crawley to bounce back in Brisbane after the 27-year-old’s pair of ducks in Perth.

McCullum also conceded his team’s ultra-aggressive tactics could have ugly consequences at times, but urged fans to keep the faith.

“I’m pretty confident of the way we go about things,” he said.

“The last few years we’ve built a set-up which is connected, it’s tight, and we play a style of cricket that we believe gives us our best chance.

“If we go away from that, then we’re in trouble.

“There’s no point trying to play for safety per se. We’ve just got to keep backing our approach and be strong, and keep believing in what we’re doing. That will give us the best chance to bounce back.”

McCullum’s message to fans was simple.

“I’d say keep the faith,” he said.

“We know what our best game is, what gives us our greatest opportunity.

“We’ve been in this situation before … we played South Africa and lost in two days that first Test and came back and won that series 2-1.

“Just because we are one down in the series doesn’t change what we believe in. We have to stay calm, stay together, and plot our way back into this series, as we have done before.”

-with AAP