RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD believes that he can be better than ever using his new configuration of darts.
The Dutch five-time World Champion spent much of the opening four weeks of the Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts experimenting with different flights and stems in a bid to find a settled combination.
He visited sponsors Unicorn ahead of the visit to Exeter and opted to move from using 25 gram darts to 23 gram darts, as well as using pear-shaped flights.
A week of practice with the new set-up resulted in him posting a 106.92 average in defeating Terry Jenkins at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester last Thursday - the highest so far in this year's Premier League.
Van Barneveld now believes he will improve further by sticking to the configuration.
"I dropped two grams and they are going in all the time," he said. "I've been hitting 180s and 140s all the time in practice and last week they went in on stage.
"The way I practised last week was unreal - in practice I was doing things I've never done before.
"I know what I can do with these darts. I've done it on stage now and that may be a big thing for me.
"I've now had a near 107 average and hopefully I will keep this going and improve."
Van Barneveld faces Mervyn King at The Brighton Centre this Thursday, with King having won three of his opening five matches.
"Mervyn is a great friend and we've known each other for many years," added van Barneveld, speaking to Sportslive Internet Radio. "He's a fantastic guy but on stage we're opponents and I need the points badly.
"Hopefully I can play like I did last week and hit my doubles."
Van Barneveld will also return to action away from the television cameras on the PDC ProTour in Crawley this weekend, in his bid to qualify for June's UK Open and also the 2011 Players Championship.
He has yet to compete in any PDC ProTour events, but will need to compete in three of the remaining five UK Open Qualifiers if he is to contest for a third UK Open title at the Reebok Stadium.
Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts
Week Six - The Brighton Centre
Phil Taylor v Terry Jenkins
Raymond van Barneveld v Mervyn King
Ronnie Baxter v Adrian Lewis
Simon Whitlock v James Wade
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