Just a thought, but could it be less that they're "spineless pathetic bastards" and more that they've been driven into the ground? If you look at the batsmen who've faced the most balls & bowlers who've bowled the most overs in international cricket in 2013, you come up with these lists:
Code:
[B]Batsman Balls faced[/B]
Misbah-ul-Haq 3082
[I]Bell 2915
Cook 2626
Root 2529[/I]
de Villiers 2451
[I]Trott 2298[/I]
Clarke 2147
Amla 2021
Sangakkara 1978
Kohli 1956
Code:
[B]Bowler Overs bowled[/B]
Saeed Ajmal 628.4
Ashwin 557.1
[I]Anderson 541.2[/I]
[I]Broad 517.5[/I]
Jadeja 484.5
[I]Swann 454.5[/I]
Boult 385
Junaid Khan 383.5
Steyn 374.4
Siddle 373.1
If you go back to the start of 2012, Cook has faced 6436 balls in international cricket - over 1000 more than Michael Clarke, whose 5365 is the second most behind Cook. More worryingly, James Anderson's 1209.2 overs is more than any other bowler. The only other to bowl 1200 overs in that period is Graeme Swann, who has passed that mark by one ball. The quicks with the next highest workloads are Broad, with 1057.2 overs, and Steyn with 854.1. It's astounding that England would treat Jimmy like that.
I'm not particularly surprised that some of them aren't themselves.