Outlook's Rohit Mahajan profiles Andrew Symonds: Very melting-pot, very Aussie. Symonds plays by basic laws, with a straight bat.

A close associate of Symonds at Queensland narrates a chilling story. "Well, he got into a slight disagreement with a rugby player in South Africa," he says. "Let’s say they did not see eye to eye on a certain matter—How do you think Andrew sought to settle it? He said he’d prefer to handle it ‘man-to-man’, fight it out!"

What could easily have descended into gladiatorial bloodletting was averted by a cooler man present—the young Michael ‘Pup’ Clarke. "Andrew’s philosophy in life is rather basic," says his associate. "But he’s also a free spirit who likes nothing better than to hook up his boat to go fishing or crabbing."