Key points
- Desert Vipers renewed their partnership with JA Resorts & Hotels for three years on 5 October 2026.
- JA The Resort stays the team’s official hotel, as it has been in all four ILT20 seasons.
- The new JA Sports and Shooting Club in Jebel Ali becomes the Vipers’ official training base.
- Season 5 starts on Sunday 22 November, with the Vipers as defending champions.
Desert Vipers have renewed their partnership with JA Resorts & Hotels for three years, the ILT20 champions announced on Monday 5 October 2026. JA The Resort remains the team’s official hotel partner, and the JA Sports and Shooting Club becomes the Vipers’ official training base.
JA The Resort has hosted the Vipers in all four seasons of the DP World ILT20 so far, and the new agreement makes that long-running arrangement formal.
A new place to train
The training base is a set of new cricket grounds at the JA Sports and Shooting Club, across the road from the JA Lake View Hotel at JA The Resort in Jebel Ali. The Vipers’ senior squad will train there during the ILT20, and the grounds will also be used by the team’s Talent Pathway programme and for schools fixtures.
The Vipers will also help JA use the club for community programmes, events and competitions, and to bring in professional, university, school and club teams.
What else the deal covers
JA The Resort has hosted the Vipers’ annual Golf Day, the BioBlitz and team dinners, and those events will continue. Leading Vipers players will help promote the hotel, and the JA logo will appear on the team’s website and marketing. The two sides will also keep working together on ways to reduce the impact of sport on the environment.
“Over the past four DP World ILT20 seasons, JA The Resort has been our team’s home, and our partnership has grown across hospitality, cricket and sustainability,” said Vipers chief executive Phil Oliver.
Stuart Gibb, general manager of the JA Sports & Shooting Club, said: “Welcoming the team to JA Sports & Shooting Club as their official training base marks an exciting new chapter, not only for the partnership but for the wider sporting community.”
News from the Vipers’ Talent Pathway
The Desert Vipers Talent Pathway, the team’s programme for young cricketers in the UAE, has also made a strong start to its season, Jack Luffman said in an update on the same day. Pathway players watched the Season 5 auction in person, and Vipers director of cricket Tom Moody joined one of their High Performance training sessions. A half-term camp is next, and with the senior squad based nearby in November, the pathway hopes to bring its young players closer to the first team.
What comes next
The Vipers start Season 5 as defending champions after beating MI Emirates by 46 runs in the 2025-26 final (see the full scorecard). At the auction they signed Babar Azam for $80,000. See the full Desert Vipers squad.
Season 5 runs from Sunday 22 November to Sunday 20 December 2026. The Vipers’ first match date will be known once the fixtures are released. Check the ILT20 schedule for the latest dates.
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