Intro:

Salman Butt vowed to clear his name of bribery allegations following his return to Pakistan after seven months in an English jail.

Script:

Disgraced former Pakistan cricket captain Salman Butt was greeted by 200 supporters after arriving back in Lahore on Friday following his release from prison in England.

The 27-year-old was released from Canterbury jail the day before after serving seven months of a two-and-a-half year sentence for his part in the spot fixing scandal.

After arriving back in Pakistan Butt spoke to the media, apologising for his action but vowing to clear his name.

SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Salman Butt, Former Captain, Pakistan:
"First of all I have to thank all my family members, my friends and all other people who have supported me throughout this difficult time. Secondly, I want to talk to you about two things, which I should have told you long back but couldn't do it because I didn't have a chance. I want to apologise from the nation. I hope people can forgive me for the allegations on me, especially for failure to report. That I accept that I did receive lot of offers but didn't report. There is a code of conduct for players that we should report (such offers) to PCB or ICC. I accept the blame for that, just that and that is my fault that I didn't report. But I have never in my whole career I have never accepted any offer, have never entertained any offer, practically there has never been any incident in any match that was related to any offer that I received. The other concern of spot fixing, or any kind of fixing, or if I said anything and if someone else did something, or that if I talked about no-ball to someone... or anything else, I have absolutely no relation to any of these things."

Butt has also announced plans to appeal against his five year ban from playing cricket and will hold another press conference in the coming days.