Hmmm.
Personally, I feel that the issue isn't bouncers and sledging, but the intention behind them.
If you use sledging as a genuine means of getting a wicket, I am all for it. I do it myself. You can taunt or goad a batsman about a supposed weakness in their game, in order to cause them to play unnaturally and lose a wicket, or you can try and anger a batsman with a short-temper to get them to throw their wicket away.
Similarly, a barrage of short bowling is completely legitimate when the batsman you are bowling to is known to have a weakness to the short delivery.
Even a combination of the two is legitimate when you know that intimidating the batsman is the best way to get him out.
But when it is used as a means of expressing 'aggression' and macho posturing under the guise of playing 'hard' and 'competitive' cricket, that's when it gets ugly. It is disrespectful to the sport.
For example, India clearly stand no hope of bowling a side out with the short ball (Lords aside). Their constant use of it, along with ugly snarly and jibes, against Australia in this current series clearly has more to do with them attempting to prove how tough they are, than it has to do with actually taking wickets and winning the game. It's pathetic and it's ugly, and it's not cricket.
Similarly, I saw a video once of Mark Boucher sledging Tatenda Taibu in an ODI where Zimbabwe were already losing. This was completely unnecessary, considering the game had been won, and they didn't need to sledge Taibu to get him out - the quality of their bowling attack would have been sufficient. Instead he was doing it because he and the other South Africans were annoyed by Taibu's sledging - a tactic more justified given pop-gun attack he had to work with. This was no longer sledging, this was just plain old bullying. And it was ugly and disrespectful and reflected poorly on Boucher and the team.
When used with the right intentions, sledging and intimidatory bowling are all well and good, and are actually a sign of respect. Douglas Jardine came up with Bodyline because he begrudgingly respected the strength of the Australia batting, and realised he'd have to do something more unorthodox to rattle them in order to win the series. He didn't do it because he felt a need to appear tough and to validate his ego, or because he felt the need to settle scores with the Aussies by breaking their ****ing arms. He did it to win a game of cricket. And as long as that's your goal, then sledging and bowling short are fine by me.
