Head coach Ottis Gibson has hailed the West Indies spin arsenal, on the heels of Shane Shillingford's annihilation of Zimbabwe in the opening Test earlier this week.

The off-spinner claimed match figures of nine for 107 as West Indies crushed the African side by nine wickets inside three days, to take a 1-0 lead in the two match series.

"The spin department right now is strong. We now have four or five quality spinners to choose from. The fast bowling stock is also looking very good and we have a whole host of guys who can do the job now," Gibson pointed out.

"There is competition for places and that's a good sign for us going forward. Over the next three years we hope that we can build on this and make a case for breaking into the top five in Test cricket."

In the first innings, Shillingford and fellow off-spinner Marlon Samuels nabbed seven of the ten wickets to fall, while Shillingford picked up six wickets in the second innings.

Shillingford was picked ahead of frontline off-spinner Sunil Narine who was left out the 13-man squad, and left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul who failed to make the final XI for the Kensington Oval Test.

Though there was overwhelming success for the spinners, fast bowlers Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel also bowled impressively, a fact not lost on Gibson.

"I thought our bowlers were exceptional, especially Shane Shillingford who got nine wickets for us," he noted.

"The seamers bowled excellently and Marlon got some wickets in the first innings as well. All in all we were happy and we will take this performance, but we know we still have a lot more to do as well."

Gibson, however, conceded that the batting had not gone exactly to plan, with West Indies bowled out for 307 in just about a day.

At one stage, they were tottering at 151 for six before captain Darren Sammy struck a top score of 73 and wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin, 62, in a 106-run seventh wicket stand to rescue the innings.

Gibson said the Kensington pitch had played a role with its inconsistent bounce.

"One of our plans as a batting group is to try and bat 140 to 150 overs in an innings. "We got bowled out in a day; that wasn't the best for us," he said.

"The surface wasn't the best and the bastmen reported that it was difficult to trust the surface. We saw from the first day a few balls kept low. Chris Gayle got out to a ball that took off and we saw the same thing with young Kieran Powell in the second innings, he too got one that took off from a length."

The second Test bowls off at Windsor Park in Dominica on Wednesday.

–CMC