Eoin Morgan, the England limited-overs captain, defended the controversial decision to drop himself from the team’s series Twenty20 decider against South Africa on Sunday, insisting the need to blood new players for the future was his overriding priority.

Dawid Malan struck 77 from 44 balls as England, captained by Jos Buttler, claimed a 19-run win against the tourists in Cardiff and 2-1 win. But with a host of first-team players rested from the squad originally, including Joe Root and Ben Stokes, Morgan stepping down to give Lancashire’s Liam Livingstone a second cap was seen as a step too far by some.

Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, tweeted: “1-1 ... Series decider ... and the England Skipper is resting !!!!!!!!!!!!! #WTF ..... Worlds gone mad.” Speaking on BBC’s Test Match Special the former England batsman James Taylor, who retired at 26 due to health issues, said: “He’s the leader and he should be playing.”

After picking up on the response to the teams being announced at the toss, Morgan joined the Sky commentators midway through England’s innings to give his version of events, saying: “It’s an important part of our development. Our success in 50-over cricket and T20 has been down to the strength in depth we’ve had in the side. Ideally, yes [I would have played]. It’s a very difficult situation to be in. I love playing international cricket, but unfortunately that is the case today. It’s tough, but it’s a call you have to make looking to the long term.”

Buttler, who stood in for Morgan when he opted out of the tour to Bangladesh last year on security grounds, later said: “Depth is huge if you are going to become a really good side. Dawid showed that by producing that performance and shows there are some really good players really knocking on the doorYou need that if you are going to become one of the best sides.”

Morgan’s stepping down was not the only source of angst, with the Somerset director of cricket, Matthew Maynard, taking to social media to voice his frustration at Craig Overton not being granted a debut as had previously been promised by the captain at the start of the series.

“Gutted for @craigoverton12 #brokenword,” Maynard tweeted, with Morgan going on to reply: “We couldn’t get him in today. We wanted to retain our seamers from the second game who bowled well and did a job today. Craig is aware and all is fine.”