West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been named the International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year at the annual awards ceremony in Dubai.
England women's captain Charlotte Edwards, who presided over 13 victories in an unbeaten home summer, pipped Claire Taylor to the women's award.
In the emerging player category, Sri Lankan spin prodigy Ajantha Mendis was chosen ahead of England's Stuart Broad.
England's Kevin Pietersen and Ryan Sidebottom made the World Test team.
Edwards was delighted with the acknowledgement and said: "This is a massive night for women's cricket. It's a huge honour for me to be involved with a ceremony like this - I'm so glad that the ICC is recognising the women's game.
"It's a big moment for the other girls who have been nominated for this and I am honoured to be included in that shortlist, let alone win it.
"Women's cricket has a big year ahead. It's fantastic for the game and an exciting time to be involved in women’s cricket."
The emerging player had to be under 26 at the start of the period under review, 9 August 2007, and must not have played more than five Tests and/or 10 one-day matches by that time.
Mendis has made an explosive start to his international career, taking 26 wickets in his first three Tests at an average of 18 and adding 20 scalps in eight one-day internationals at a cost of just 10.
The 23-year-old said: "I am delighted to win the award. It is an honour to play for Sri Lanka and I hope to continue playing for my country for a long time to come."
During the voting period, left-hander Chanderpaul played eight Test matches, scoring 819 runs at an average of 91.00, including three centuries and six fifties, all against the top seven teams in the world.
He also played 13 ODIs in that time, topping the averages with 74.75 having scored 598 runs, with a century and five fifties.
"I am honoured to be given this prestigious award," the 34-year-old from Guyana said.
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"A special thank you goes out to my manager, my agent and all my supporters in the Caribbean and throughout the world. It's also important that I thank my team-mates without whom this wouldn't have been possible."
ICC president David Morgan said of Chanderpaul: "Shivnarine has been a rock in the West Indies batting line-up for many years and he thoroughly deserves this award."
The panel for selecting the Test and one-day sides was chaired by West Indies legend Clive Lloyd and included former Australia captain Greg Chappell, recently retired South Africa all-rounder Shaun Pollock, former Sri Lanka opener Sidath Wettimuny and former Bangladesh batsman Athar Ali Khan.
Cricketer of the Year
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Test Player of the Year
Dale Steyn
ODI Player of the Year
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Emerging Player of the Year
Ajantha Mendis
Associate Player of the Year
Ryan ten Doeschate
Twenty20 International Performance of the Year
Yuvraj Singh
Women's Player of the Year
Charlotte Edwards
Spirit of Cricket
Sri Lanka
Umpire of the Year
Simon Taufel
ICC World Test team of the Year (in batting order):
Graeme Smith (SA, captain)
Virender Sehwag (Ind)
Mahela Jayawardene (SL)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
Kevin Pietersen (Eng)
Jacques Kallis (SA)
Kumar Sangakkara (SL, wicketkeeper)
Brett Lee (Aus)
Ryan Sidebottom (Eng)
Dale Steyn (SA)
Muttiah Muralitharan (SL)
12th man: Stuart Clark (Aus)
ICC World ODI Team of the Year (in batting order):
Herschelle Gibbs (SA)
Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)
Ricky Ponting (Aus, captain)
Younis Khan (Pak)
Andrew Symonds (Aus)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind, wicketkeeper)
Farveez Maharoof (SL)
Daniel Vettori (NZ)
Brett Lee (Aus)
Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
Nathan Bracken (Aus)
12th man: Salman Butt (Pak)
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