RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD ignited his Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts campaign with the best performance of the season on Thursday night, while leaders Phil Taylor & Mervyn King scrapped out a draw in Manchester.

Dutch star van Barneveld bounced back from three successive defeats to average 106.9 in defeating Terry Jenkins 8-4 at the M.E.N. Arena to claim his second victory of the year.

A clinical performance included two 11-dart finishes and the highest average so far this season, putting the five-time World Champion back in the fray for a play-off place.

"I'm really pleased with that performance and the average," said van Barneveld. "Tonight the darts went in like they can do and I was really focused.

"Hopefully I can keep this going every week because I felt comfortable on stage but know there is more in my. I've changed to using 23 gram darts instead of 25 gram darts and I'm already noticing an improvement."

Van Barneveld sits one point adrift of fourth-placed Simon Whitlock, who also claimed his second win of the campaign in Manchester, punishing Adrian Lewis' missed doubles to take an 8-4 victory.

The night's other two games ended in draws, as top two Phil Taylor and Mervyn King clashed after reigning champion James Wade shared the spoils with Ronnie Baxter.

Wade led 4-1 and 6-3 but failed to finish off his opponent for the second successive week as Baxter claimed a draw with an 11-dart finish in the deciding leg of their contest.

Taylor, meanwhile hit successive checkouts of 161, 126 and 125 in coming from 5-3 down to lead against King but had to hit a 13-dart finish in the decider to grab himself a point and remain unbeaten.

"I'm fairly satisfied to get a draw after being behind and to be honest I'm pleased to get a result against a player of Mervyn's class," said Taylor. "My finishing was rubbish at the beginning but I clicked into gear in the second half of the match."

King added: "I'm a little bit disappointed that I only got a draw because I had Phil by the throat and let him off. Phil's three ton-plus finishes in a row were great shots and he had to take them out because I'd have taken control."



Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts

Week Five - M.E.N. Arena, Manchester

James Wade 7-7 Ronnie Baxter

Phil Taylor 7-7 Mervyn King

Terry Jenkins 4-8 Raymond van Barneveld

Adrian Lewis 4-8 Simon Whitlock