South Africa skipper Graeme Smith wants a trouble-free summer and believes it is important to look at "the bigger picture" in terms of the game being played in the right spirit when his side tackle England.

And the opening batsman is also hoping the Proteas will be remembered for the quality of their cricket rather than any potential on-field bust-ups.

Smith was speaking in the aftermath of England one-day skipper Paul Collingwood angering New Zealand by refusing to withdraw his appeal against Grant Elliott after he had been run out via a collision with Ryan Sidebottom attempting a quick single.

Elliott was injured in the incident and there were initial angry reactions from the Kiwis before Collingwood and his New Zealand counterpart Daniel Vettori shook hands and apologised to each other in an attempt to diffuse the incident.

Collingwood has received a four-game ban from the ICC although that was primarily because of England's slow over rate in the NatWest Series clash at The Oval.

Smith claims it depends on how Collingwood feels after the run-out incident in terms of whether it is a resignation issue for the Durham all-rounder.

But he is aware of the responsibility players and captains have to ensure the game is played in the right spirit as South Africa look to win a Test series in England for the first time since being allowed back into the international arena a decade and a half ago.

Smith said: "What would I have done in a pressure moment like that? There was so much riding on the game in terms of the situation the series was in and it was a must-win game.

"I don't really like to say which way we would have gone in that position but, us as a team, we'd like to think we would have gone with the spirit of cricket.

"But who knows? You can't really say until you've been put in that position.

"I think certainly in the last year and a half, especially after the Australia-India series, there has been a big talk around about the responsibility of us as players and captains and the spirit of the game.

"Both parties have owned up and apologised and that is good to see but it is easy to ask the bowler 'did you do it on purpose' and he says 'no' and it is easy just to say it was an accident.

"I guess we've all got to look at the bigger picture. Maybe you forget the bigger picture in the little moment you are in at that time."

Smith added: "Is it a resignation issue for Collingwood? That is difficult for me to answer. I guess it all depends on how he feels, if he feels he can take the captaincy forward after that, and still have the respect to do that.

"Those are all questions he needs to look at himself. I know as captain he probably didn't want to get out of bed this morning with everything going on."

Smith also insists he would have consulted his team-mates if confronted with the same scenario as Collingwood.

He said: "I think we would have talked about it as a team. For me, I would have bounced it off a few guys."

Smith also rejects Collingwood's claim that the incident was similar to when Kevin Pietersen was run out after a collision with Shaun Pollock during the Twenty20 Cup in South Africa in 2007.

He said: "I don't see the two incidents being comparable. Polly (Pollock) had his back turned at the time and Pietersen ran into him and it wasn't around the crease area."

As for the Test and one-day battles ahead, Smith said: "For us, it is going to be a big competitive series and people are going to have their eyes on the series and it is something we are going to have to be aware of all of the time.

"We would love to be a really competitive side but I don't think we'd like to go home with an ugly reputation after having an ugly series.

"I am sure there are going to be competitive moments throughout the series and that is great for cricket.

"But we'd like to come here and be remembered for the type of cricket we played, how competitive the series was, whether it was Dale Steyn up against Kevin Pietersen or Graeme Smith up against someone else, whatever."

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